


The Marian Candidate

by inkshaming



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Assassins & Hitmen, Canon-Typical Violence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-07-19 02:35:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7341163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkshaming/pseuds/inkshaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When tragedy struck the Sinan royal family, Levi found himself yanked off the battlefield and named heir apparent by his uncle, the king, and while he’s doing his best to adjust to princehood, Levi often wonders what his uncle had been thinking when he named Levi as his heir to the throne. But when a mysterious chain of events decades in the making culminates in the appearance of Eren Jaeger - possible ambassador, probable spy - running for his life in a foreign city, Levi realizes that, prince or not, he makes a much better soldier.... And one hell of a spy.</p><p>A story about princes who are spies, spies who are monsters, and monsters who become heroes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Midnight Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> This work would not have been possible without my dear friends, who supported, encouraged, and inspired me from the very first day I began writing this fic. A huge thank you to all of you - especially to titanteeth, who got me back to writing in the first place; shulkie, who helped give me the courage to post; and to christmasrivers, without whom this story might not have been told.

Levi stared at his desk with a brewing sense of frustration.

There were papers everywhere. Transcripts of meetings with advisors on everything from foreign policy to personal finance written in the slanted hand of his attendant; the thick, pompous envelopes from thick, pompous heads of state demanding his presence at yet another tedious gala; overly-formalized memos from desperate reporters begging for interviews…  _ Everywhere _ .

His fingers pressed against his throbbing temples as he tried convincing himself – not for the first time – that burning the desk to down to the sleek cherry floors would not be worth his uncle’s rage later.

Then again, he mused, if all that paperwork burned up, Levi wouldn’t have to deal with any of it until the papers started piling up again.

Which would be almost immediately.

He couldn’t help the weary sigh that hissed through his teeth as he sank into his chair and began sorting through the chaos. 

“Hitch!” he barked at his attendant, a slender girl with a bothersome grin and an even more bothersome habit of not being where she was needed. “Get me the financial statements from all the hospitals in the Eastern District,” he told her when she finally skittered through the door. “And tea – Earl Grey, cream, no sugar.” Hell, did he need the energy. “Please.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

When she had gone, Levi leaned deeper into his chair, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers.

This hadn’t been a problem when his uncle had had an heir.

But when the queen died in childbirth, quickly followed by her infant son, six years prior, the King of Sina swore he wouldn’t marry again, choosing instead to name his nephew heir apparent – yanking Levi from the battlefield and dooming him to this gilded hell-on-earth.

“Damn you, Uncle,” Levi muttered under his breath.

“What was that, Your Highness?” Hitch asked as she strolled back into the room, carrying a tray laden with even more paperwork and a single porcelain teacup edged with gold.

“Long live the King,” Levi replied.

 

~~~

 

The morning didn’t get any better, and neither did Levi’s mood. The day’s itinerary was ruthless – dignitaries to entertain, foreign officials to placate, media hounds to strain what little patience he actually managed to hang onto, and one more marriage proposal to tactfully deny – and all before noon. By midday, his desk was still a mess and he had, once again, shaken the hands of so many strangers he calmly resigned himself to a death via plague at any moment. It would probably be a relief.

And he was always, it seemed, out of tea.

“…new recruits are advancing as hoped, so it seems as though we can expect around thirty percent of the trainee divisions to pass their final aptitude batteries and join the main forces wherever necessary. As usual, the top ten recruits will be considered for assignment with the Military Police, and the names of those recruits…” The conference had dragged on for almost an hour by now, as the military brass met once a month in attempt to reshuffle the funding.

“Thirty percent? Really Shadis?” Levi asked dryly, interrupting the military instructor before he could continue. He eyed his empty teacup with disinterest as he traced the rim with a finger. “Old age must be making you soft.”

Shadis snorted, a lip turning up at the end for what might’ve been a gruff-looking grin. “I could afford to keep more of the trainees behind for further training if  _ someone _ hadn’t decided to up and leave,” he replied. “I’d be more inclined to work them harder if we didn’t need the numbers necessary to replace a soldier like you, Captain.”

“In the ten years since I graduated from the academy, I’ve never heard of acceptance rates so high,” Levi retorted coolly, but a shadow of a smile flickered momentarily across his face. “You’ve had plenty of time, Shadis. It’s been six years.”

“And you don’t seem a bit softer for them,” Shadis replied. “The frontlines still calling your name, Captain?”

_ You have no idea. _ “I keep up,” Levi murmured, lapsing back into silence as the conference resumed around him. He had delivered these kinds of speeches himself once. He knew all the lines.

The meeting concluded without further interruption, and one by one, people filed out of the stuffy, cushioned conference room to wherever their freedom might take them until only Levi remained.

Four more hours. That was it. Four more hours and then he’d be free to do… well, what exactly? Sort through the paperwork on his desk, he supposed. Read. Count the number of tiles on the mosaic in the bathroom.

Again.

“Met with the king's advisor earlier,” someone said, pulling Levi from his thoughts. "Smith sends his regards."

Levi looked up to see Shadis standing in the doorway. There was a stubborn set to his jaw, and confusion had etched itself into the creases of his brow.

“Oh?" Levi murmured. "And what did he have to say?”

“The usual. Spoke briefly about troop formations - he's come up with some convoluted idea he wanted to try out in training later..." he trailed off. “And he asked me to pass something along to you, if I saw you today." He shook his head as he recalled the conversation, remembering, for a moment, the strangeness of it all. "I don’t know how the man does it – I told him I hadn’t seen you in months and I had no reason to see you any time soon, yet here we are…” A calculating look crossed his face as he continued. “Smith told me to ask you: 'Where does the boar's friend hide?'”

“Where does the boar's friend hide?” Levi repeated crisply. “What in the ever-living hell does that mean?”

It wasn’t the response Shadis expected. “I don’t have a clue. I thought you would know.”

“Apparently Erwin did too,” Levi grumbled.

The two men fell silent.

“You know,” Shadis began again, “I’ve seen a lot of soldiers get into cushy jobs and policy work after they’re discharged.” He paused for a moment, brow darkening. “But I never thought you’d end up here, Ackerman.”

_ Neither did I. _ “It was inevitable, I suppose,” Levi replied.

And he hated it.

“You’re probably right,” Shadis admitted as they started to walk, and the two men fell into step out of habit, the clip of their boots echoing off the marble tiles in the early afternoon air. “But that doesn't mean we couldn’t put you to better use in the field than what you’re getting up to here. You’re a soldier, Ackerman, not a dignitary. Anything else, for you… it’s a waste.”

He knew that.  _ Gods, _ did he know that. Hadn’t he been thinking the same thing himself for the past six years? This life was miserable, and it would never get better. It would only be more of the same – until the day he became king himself. The thought made him cringe.

The look of pity on Shadis’ face didn’t suit him. His features weren’t made for sympathy, or if they had been, years in the military had beaten it out of him. Now it just made him look pained. “If you ever feel the need to scare the hell out of some new recruits… for old time’s sake,” he grumbled.

Levi just nodded.

Shaking hands, signing papers, feigning interest – to Levi, the following three hours seemed especially slow. By the end of the last appointment, Levi could barely hold back a scowl.  _ The next person who comes waving papers for me to sign _ , Levi grumbled to himself,  _ is going to get kicked in the shins, no questions asked. _

But the unlucky soul turned out to be Hitch, and there was no mood foul enough to make Levi consider abusing his attendant.

Fuming silently to himself, Levi signed the papers – annual income from his mother’s estate in the country – dismissed the girl, and then made his way to the King’s central chambers for the final meeting of the day.

Upon his arrival, Levi settled into chair to the right of the king and to the left of Erwin Smith. The man’s eyes widened slightly when he noticed Levi, and Levi acknowledged him with a nod, but beyond that, the two men said nothing. Levi paid no attention to Erwin, and Erwin paid no attention to him.

For the king’s spymaster, Erwin Smith was remarkably unassuming – but perhaps that was what made him so good.

When His Majesty arrived, everyone took to their feet, hands of those who had served in the military rising to their hearts, heads of those who hadn’t lowering respectfully. The man accepted the gestures with a curt nod, and as he took his seat at the head of the long, oak table, the meeting began.

“…with this new technology, our soldiers will be faster and more mobile than ever before – increasing our response times and lowering our casualties.”

The air filled with a smattering of applause as Hanji Zoe, Sina’s leading engineer and researcher, took their seat again, looking pleased at the reception of their latest invention – a peculiar rig that, when worn, allowed a user to fire two separate grappling hooks and maneuver mid-air.

Levi stifled a yawn.

_ “…steady progress has been reported from every military branch, and the borders with Maria and Rose show no signs of increasing conflict…” _

The carpet of the central chambers was something of a national treasure. According to legend, the plush carpet had been hand-knotted by a single woman, who had designed the intricate rose patterns herself. It had been given as a gift from the queendom of Rose to the king of Sina many years ago and had been impeccably maintained ever since. If Levi really tried - and if he could do so without attracting attention - he could follow a maze of intersecting vines all the way around the room.

He did so twice.

_ “…agricultural and mining trade is on the rise again, thanks in part to the mild season we’ve had this past winter…” _

Levi took a sip of his tea.

It was empty.

_ “…despite showing no signs of increased aggression, Marian forces have been mobile along the southern and western border, engaging in peacetime training to practice new formations… _

The crown molding that circled the ceiling of the room had exactly 394 snarling lions’ heads carved into the gold-leafed wood. One of them, Levi noticed, was missing a tooth. He wondered idly how the lion had lost it.

_ “…serial arsonist was apprehended outside the Orb district late last week, and was sentenced this morning…” _

Erwin said nothing, and no one expected him to.

As the meeting wore on, Levi found himself watching his uncle carefully as he presided over the conference of the most powerful individuals in all of Sina. Hadn’t he been in the same place as Levi once? An un-inheriting Ackerman who had suddenly been thrust in line for the throne, pulled from the very battlefield Levi had fought on and yearned for? If so, he hid it well. The only sign of his past military service was a wicked scar along his back – well-hidden beneath silk and fine fabrics – and the wild, calculating look that never left the man’s dark eyes.

Levi wondered if that would happen to him, if he stayed here too long.

By the end, Levi was anxious to be free from the room, free from the people in it and everything they represented. After a brief word of parting with his uncle, Levi said his goodnights and promptly excused himself. He was exhausted, but he would find no sleep tonight.

The quiet dread of having to go through the same mind-numbing chaos the next day hung like a sword over his head.

Still, Levi paced calmly through his nightly routine. Sorting, finally, through the mess of papers on his desk. Bathing. Penning a letter or two by firelight. Reading.

Waiting.

When the clock struck midnight, with twelve peals ringing through the calm night air, Levi rose from his desk.

Instead of a night-robe, he slipped into a fresh shirt and tugged on knee-high leather boots.

The door to his suite made no sound when he opened it and made no sound when it closed, just as his footsteps made no sound as he padded quietly through the castle, following dark corridors and abandoned passageways with no need for light.

At last, Levi came to the door of the eastern tower. Rapping a short pattern on the wood with his knuckles, he stilled and listened, hard, and when he heard the pattern repeated faintly from the other side, he slipped the passphrase in a whisper through the cracks in the wood.

_ "The friend of the boar hides where the white river rises." _

A heavy “click,” and the door opened.

Familiar faces looked up at him from where they were gathered round a table strewn with maps and coded letters. Hanji, with their arms full of blueprint rolls and schemata, beamed at him from Dr. Berner’s side while slender Petra held a letter to a candle to reveal the invisible ink so she could read the message to Auruo. Erd and Gunter sat quietly in a corner by the fire, taking whetstones to wickedly sharp knives and discussing stealth tactics amongst themselves. Mike was leaning over the desk in the back, wafting at various chemicals to organize the flash powders by scent alone. 

Erwin sat at the head of the table, an enigmatic grin flickering across the spymaster’s face in the firelight. “Good to see you’ve finally made it, Captain. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”

Levi took his seat at the far end of the table, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders as his squad filed in around him, ready to assemble a new image of the nation from the intelligence they had gathered themselves. The night was young, but they had a lot of work to do before dawn came again. Studying the faces of his fellow spies, Levi allowed himself a small smile.

“Read me in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapters are already complete and chapter two will come out next Wednesday! Please subscribe for more! :)


	2. The Flight at Dawn

“‘Peacetime training’ my foot!” Hanji griped, smacking a hand against the table and sending their blueprints rolling in every direction. “I don’t like it.”

Levi glanced up from the report he had been perusing – a series of sketches detailing the general layout of Marian army’s new formations. “I seem to recall you’ve been hiding your ‘brand new’ maneuver gear from the rest of the Sinan military for the past fourteen months, Glasses,” he said, allowing a small smirk.

Hanji simply shrugged. “It needed rigorous testing before I could release it to them,” they replied with a grin.

“And you’re still surprised it goes both ways?”

“I’m not surprised by a lot of things that go both ways, Your Highness,” Hanji retorted, their grin somehow growing wider.

Levi ignored them, his attention returning to the sketches in his hands. Hanji was right: there was definitely something going on here. “Erwin,” he murmured, frowning, “these don’t make any sense. The vanguard is far too small, and these formations… it’s all wrong. If their forces go into battle like this…”

They’d have the living shit beaten out of them.

“I know,” Erwin replied, propping his chin behind the bridge of his fingers. The shadows thrown by the crackling firelight cast across his face a mask that even Levi couldn’t read through – but then again, Erwin Smith was a hard man to read, even at the best of times. “I had the same thought myself,” he continued. “Makes me wonder what they have hidden up their sleeves.”

No doubt he had a few well-informed suspicions already, but the spymaster would share them when the time was right.

“Our eyes and ears in the field haven’t mentioned anything unusual,” Gunter added. “The vanguard seems to be made up of ordinary soldiers – I’ve even heard that one of the soldiers is a man in his forties. I can’t make anything of it.”

None of them could, and it had them worried. They didn’t have answers – and that was unacceptable. They were the Survey Corps, the Sinan king’s personal spies. They couldn’t afford to not have answers. Without them, people died.

 _Of course, people often die because of our work too,_ Levi noted dryly. Occupational hazard. “Right,” he said curtly. “What’s next?”

“Good work on that arson case, Ral,” Moblit said, nodding to Petra with a gentle smile. "Heavens knows that’s been going on long enough. If I don’t see another burn patient for the next week, I’ll be a happy man.”

“You just jinxed yourself,” Hanji teased, and Moblit groaned as they pummeled him with a rolled up diagram.

“The subject at hand tonight,” the spymaster began, sliding a file towards the center of the table, “is a matter of Marian diplomacy.”

Tension quivered through the sudden hush.

Between the kingdoms of Sina and Maria lay the kind of long-burning embers that threatened war just as easily as they threatened smoke and cinders. Marian diplomacy did not exist. Between Sina and Maria, there existed only veiled threats and reluctant peace.

Levi pulled the file forward.

_Jaeger, Eren. Male. Age: 22._

“A young ambassador, recently graduated from the Marian Royal Academy,” Levi read, skimming briefly through the pages of the file. School transcripts, letters, sketches of an unsuspecting young man with a strong profile and a fierce gaze. “A diplomat.”

“Notable for a few of his upper class connections. By himself, he's rather unremarkable, but the man has powerful friends,” Erwin added thoughtfully, reading from the dossier. “Marian _and_ Sinan.”

“And his parentage?” Levi asked, pausing at the page indicating the young man’s next of kin.

It was blank.

“He was brought to St. Jude’s Home for Children when he was about four or five,” Erwin replied. “As far as we know, he stayed there until he was about nine years old - at which time, he was involved in the rescue of a young woman whose carriage had been attacked. Thanks to him, the young woman was saved, and out of gratitude, his education was taken care of by her family. _Your_ family,” Erwin added, looking pointedly at Levi.

Levi remembered.

“So he's an orphan then,” Mike noted.

“But the surname…” Auruo interjected, looking up from the file in surprise.

Jaeger. The name of the ruling family of Maria for as long as the Three Kingdoms had stood.

“Orphans in Maria are given the surname of the royal family as a matter of policy,” Petra replied. “It was instituted as a gesture of kindness, a way of granting them the advantage of an honorable family name they might not have had.”

“That’s one way of looking at it,” Gunter grumbled.

“What’s this about, Erwin,” Levi prompted.

The spymaster studied Levi over the steeple of his fingers, his eyes dark in the firelit room. “We have received intelligence from our sources in Maria that Eren Jaeger will be travelling to Sina tonight. He will arrive in the capital at dawn.”

“I wasn’t aware that the palace was expecting an ambassador from Maria,” Petra murmured thoughtfully, rifling through her notes.

“We aren’t,” Levi replied.

Erwin nodded. “Lately, our sources in Maria have been paying greater attention to Mr. Jaeger. His career so far has proven unremarkable, but it's unusual for someone of his social status to be so well-connected… and so closely watched by intelligence operatives from his own kingdom. As such, we’ve had Mr. Jaeger under surveillance for the past several months.”

“You think he's a spy,” Levi murmured.

“I think he's worth keeping an eye on,” Erwin replied, motioning for Hanji to hand out the rolls of paper in their arms. Mission objectives. “Whether or not he's a spy… That's for you and your team to find out.”

As he unfurled the paper and scanned the contents, Levi's stomach sank. “Really, Erwin? After all that shit about your possible foreign operative, you want us on _recon?_ ”

“That's right,” Hanji cackled. “The Spec Ops squad is on babysitting duty.”

Somehow, Erwin managed to keep a straight face. Barely. “You’re the captain of the special operations team, Levi,” he replied evenly. “This job is currently our highest priority, and as such, it belongs to Squad _Lupus_. Hanji and I will fabricate some reason for your sudden absence... unless you’d prefer to get caught up on your paperwork?”

Levi groaned.

“Don’t worry, Captain,” Erwin chuckled. “I doubt this job will be as straightforward as it seems.”

When he finished memorizing the contents of his objectives, Levi folded the paper into halves and looked to his squad. “Finish with your mission notes and then meet me in the armory,” he said, rising from the table and tossing his paper into the fire. “We leave at once.”

“Yes, Captain.”

~~~

They set out long before the sun rose, the five spies slipping through the sleeping city’s streets under the cold light of the moon. Moving without a word, they darted through the shadows that clung to the narrow streets and winding back alleys, plunging deep into the heart of the capital city.

Locked behind walls for all of living memory, Sina proved to be a dizzying city to navigate, even for those who had spent their whole lives under the shadow of the walls. The city didn’t grow out as much as _upon_ itself, resulting in a motley, maze-like sort of chaos, with streets ending without warning and modern structures sprouting in the backyards of classic architecture, as if some giant gardener had sown the seeds and walled them in before leaving them to grow untended.

Even so, the bell tower was soon in their sights.

The city center opened up onto a large, open plaza, the stifling press of the many buildings suddenly retreating to reveal a cloudless, starry sky. At the far side of the plaza stood the cathedral, its spires eclipsing the moonlight and casting the empty square into darkness, and above them, the bell tower of St. Joshua stood tall and strong in the face of the coming dawn. When they reached the doors of the tower, Levi turned to face his team. “You know your orders.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Go.”

Within moments, his squad vanished, on their way to the Sinan Wall.

“And good luck,” Levi whispered after them. A shiver hummed down his spine.

They wouldn’t need it, he knew. He and his squad knew these cobbled, uneven streets, every twist and turn of this patchwork city and its chaotic heart, like the backs of their own hands. Feeling assured, Levi returned his attentions to the tower, picked the lock, and slipped inside, taking the tower stairs two at a time until he finally reached the top.

 

 

A hushed sort of reverence filled the upper landing of the bell tower, the same quiet awe that was usually reserved hidden wonders or natural disasters clinging to the smooth old stones and bell’s muted tongue. From the top of the tower, Sina looked like a reflection of the night sky. Winter shrouded the city in  a cold, silvery mist, and beneath it, thin points of light glittered in distant windows like fallen stars. Soon, dawn would whisper at the edges of the far-off wall and coax the city back to life, but right now it was peaceful, silent but for the murmur of the wind.

And somewhere out there, his squad was making their way to the Wall.

Levi and his squad would use the Wall to their advantage. The great structure only had four gates, and tonight each gate would be guarded by a spy - Petra to the east, Auruo to the north, Gunter to the west, Eld to the south. Eren Jaeger had left the Marian kingdom shortly after midnight; he would arrive in Sina at daybreak, and when he did, Levi’s squad would be ready for him.

So high above it all, Levi waited, nothing more than a silhouette in the bell tower, his eyes fixed on the horizon. The last of the night wind bit through the fabric of his cloak and nipped at his cheeks but Levi barely felt it - the thrum of the chase was in his blood.

The ambassador would be arriving soon.

And sure enough, dawn had just begun to light the sky when Levi felt a familiar sensation shiver down his spine.

_Someone’s on the move._

Leaning against the stone pillar of the belltower, Levi scanned the horizon. To the east, a thin ray of light had punctured through the Wall, flickering to life as the gate opened wider. Eyes never leaving the gate, Levi reached into one of his pockets for a narrow scope and trained it to the east.

A single horse-drawn carriage appeared, stopped briefly for the gate-man, and then entered the city.

Shivering again, Levi looked further and there was Petra, slipping off towards the city center on the next avenue over. Somewhere, tucked away in the shadows, Auruo, Eld, and Gunter were feeling that same sensation ghosting through their thoughts.

That's what made Levi's squad so good at what they did, what gave the Survey Corps their advantage: an empathetic link, a meeting of the minds, forged between the members of every squad as part of their training for the Corps. The technique, discovered by Hanji’s predecessor and developed by Hanji, was imprecise and finicky, better suited for vague impressions and sharp bursts of sensation, but the long-distance communication it allowed made the link - as unwieldy as it was - invaluable to the Survey Corps. Now, it was an essential part of every spy’s training, something each squad was expected to master, and after years on the field, the special ops squad moved like a well-oiled machine, gears churning with a silent precision that set the world in motion around them.

But the link also had its drawbacks.

Out of nowhere, Levi felt a sharp spasm across his shoulder, and he instinctively grabbed at the phantom pain, glancing behind him for the source and seeing no one.

One of his squadmates then.

Levi raised the scope again and quickly located the carriage, pausing only to reaffirm that it was the same carriage they were tracking before scouring the surrounding area for Petra and scowling when he found no sign of her. The carriage continued to draw closer and closer to the city center at the same even pace as before, showing nothing to indicate that they had discovered their tail and had taken defensive measures to evade her.

Pocketing the scope, Levi frowned in concentration, lips taut against the black fabric that masked the lower half of his features as he focused on the mental image of the four slender threads of his link to his squad. Each link was still intact - a reassuring sign of Petra’s survival, at least - and Levi pulled at them one by one, attracting their attention. To Petra, he sent a flash of worry, and when he received no response he closed his eyes and pictured an image of her face to send to Auruo, directing the other man to go to her aide. Calling Gunter and Eld to his side, he looked out over the horizon, his instincts were crackling like the air before a storm.

But the morning was quiet.

The ambassador's carriage turned a corner and pulled into view, trundling down the quiet street. It could have been any peaceful morning. It could have been any normal carriage, carrying any normal person - this should have been just a normal mission. Levi’s instincts were searing.

_Where was Petra?_

Moving without thinking, Levi leapt from the tower.

He couldn't hear the wind over the sound of his pulse rushing through his ears; he felt, rather than heard, the hydraulic hiss of the machinery strapped to his back. A vicious-looking metal grappling hook rocketed by from the left, and when it bit into the stone facade of the building at the plaza's edge, Levi went soaring through the air.

Below him, a shadow slipped out from under the carriage as it rolled to a stop.

 _Faster._ The complicated harness hidden beneath his street clothes held him to the sky – he could feel his heartbeat throbbing beneath the straps, leaving bruises that would last for days. Levi didn't care. Levi couldn't think.

Levi could only _fly._

Squeezing off a shot with the grappling hook to break his fall, Levi barreled into the assassin with a feral snarl. He felt the body give beneath his weight, felt the crunch of breaking bones beneath his feet, felt the unparalleled rush of adrenaline hitting his system with a surge of wild joy. _This_ was his mission. _This_ was his calling.

And then he felt his nerves scream.

Fire flashed across his senses, shredding through his very limbs with a razor heat. Levi took a heavy blow to his stomach and felt the assassin throw him bodily through the air, felt himself land with a crash on the pavement as his eyes danced with a liquid fog of swirling red.

 _Move,_ Levi’s mind screamed, _or else he’ll get the ambassador._

_Move or you’ll die here._

Suddenly Levi was moving, though he only saw the world through a scarlet haze. His hands left the controls of his maneuver gear and went instead for the knives sheathed along his leg and across his back. The assassin was tearing at the carriage walls with a savage strength, and Levi could almost hear the molten fear of the person within.

Levi whirled and slashed the knife blade across the assassin’s back.

The air was torn by a guttural scream as the assassin spun back to face Levi, blue eyes burning furiously from above the fabric of a dark mask. His hands sizzled with red and violet sparks as he lashed out, but Levi was lighter, faster – the edge of his fist collided with the other man’s temple, and Levi smiled with grim satisfaction as he watched his assailant’s eyes go dark. He’d let Petra and the others take him in for questioning.

Right now, he had another problem – and he was currently scrambling out of the carriage and racing for the plaza’s edge. Any second now, Eren Jaeger would be out of sight.

“Oh no you don’t,” Levi muttered.

Levi thumbed the trigger of the maneuver gear at his side and the grappling hook hurtled past the ambassador, lodged itself into the stone of the building in front of them, and shot Levi forward like an arrow from a bow. His free arm wrapped around Eren’s waist and Levi immediately pulled the weight over his shoulder as the motors on his back pulled hard on the grappling cord and sent him high into the air.

Eren Jaeger didn’t even have time to shout.

~~~

Ten minutes later, Levi stood outside the door of the safe-house, a small apartment in an out-of-the-way part of town, leading Eren in by the crook of an arm bent too far behind the young man’s back.

“He-Hey!” Eren spluttered, struggling fiercely. He sounded breathless, and his voice was raw. “Where are you taking me? What do you want with me? Let go!”

Levi shoved the young man into the small, sparsely-decorated space before turning and locking the door behind him. “Stay here and don’t move,” he muttered gruffly, smelling iron in the fabric that covered his face as he pocketed the key. “There could be more of them.” Without another word, he strode into the bathroom and shut the door.

Once alone, Levi staggered to the sink.

What the _hell_ had that been? Levi felt like he had used the maneuver gear to launch himself into a brick wall. He tore at his cloak, his gloves, his mask with shaking hands – every inch of exposed flesh was etched with dark streaks, throbbing violet and burgundy against his skin. Sharp pinpricks dug into his limbs as the nerves woke again and the feeling returned.

He caught sight of himself in the mirror and grimaced. Hanji and Erwin would have a hard time coming up with his public excuse this time; he'd be in recovery all week before the bruises would settle. Cool water splashed across the glass as he washed the blood from his face, his hands. Mentally, he reached out for his link to Hanji and grabbed their attention, sending an image of his location and a glimpse of his wounds as a request for aid. The researcher would need to have a look at  his skin; Levi would probably need medical assistance.

A mess. This mission had turned into a complete mess.

And the faint rattling sound coming from the other room told Levi that things were about to get messier.

Levi yanked the door open and let it crash against the wall with a slam, pulling his mask back over his face as he stepped into the room, prepared for a fight. Startled by the suddenness of the spy’s entrance, Eren Jaeger jumped away from the window, which bore the tell-tale signs of an amatuer attempt to pick the bolt and break free. In his unbound hands - the rope Levi had used to tie him with lay on the floor, hacked to shreds - he held a knife.

For a split second, no one moved.

“It would take a lot more than that to sneak out of that window,” Levi remarked. Noting the lack of any other apparent threats, Levi let himself relax slightly.

It was a mistake.

With an angry snarl, Eren threw himself forward and lunged at Levi, crossing the space of the small room so quickly Levi barely had the time to react before Eren was nearly upon him, the blade glinting dangerously in his hand.

Levi moved without thinking, side-stepping the knife and deflecting the blow with his forearm before catching Eren’s hand in a tight grip and twisting _hard,_ throwing him forcefully to the ground. The ambassador went down with a shout. Levi kicked the knife across the floor.

“And it’d take a _hell_ of a lot more than that to take me out,” Levi finished, sweeping around Eren to lock his arm in a tight pin and grimacing as he struggled. Outside the narrow window, Levi noticed the sun had finally risen.

It was going to be a long morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by author, please do not repost.
> 
> Chapter 3 is complete and will go up next Wednesday! :) Please subscribe for more updates ~ and if you liked the chapter, leave a comment and let me know! :D


	3. The Wrong Choice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter-specific Tags: Canon-similar Violence, Implied Death/s of Minor (Canonically Dead) Character/s
> 
> *posts chapter and runs*

“Let go of me,” Eren grit out, wincing as his struggles were met with sharp protests from his shoulder, elbow, and wrist. The more he fought against the spy, the more painful the pin seemed to become.

“State your name,” Levi said.

Eren yanked against Levi’s hold, ignoring the flash of pain in his arm. “What's it to you?”

Levi torqued Eren's arm farther and Eren flinched as his joints locked in place, the threat of increased discomfort forcing his compliance. “State. Your. Name,” Levi demanded.

“Eren Jaeger,” the ambassador hissed.

So he wasn’t going for an alias then, and while the pictures Levi had seen in Eren’s profile lacked the cuts above his eyebrow and the bruise that would soon stain his jaw, there could be no doubt that the face was the same. Only the eyes were different - Levi doubted any artist could ever hope to reproduce the raw fury of that stare. _If looks could kill,_ Levi mused.

He glared right back. “Who do you work for?”

Eren kept silent.

“I won't ask again.”

“I'm a diplomat. I work for Maria.”

“Then you have no reason to be here.”

“My reasons for being here,” Eren grit out, “are none of your concern.”

“You coming to my kingdom with an assassin made your reasons my concern.”

Eren paused. “An assassin?” he asked.

“You got another name for the masked bastard hiding under your carriage, or was he just your guard dog?”

“I wasn't traveling with guards _or_ assassins,” Eren said. “I was… traveling alone.”

“I’m not buying that,” Levi replied. His aching body was evidence he had no intention of ignoring.

“It’s the truth!” Eren insisted, punctuating his words with another sharp tug. Levi torqued the pin again, making him hiss in pain. “I didn’t know he was there!”

“You expect me to believe he just hitched a ride?”

Eren froze. “No…” he said quietly, the realization hitting like a strike to the face. “He… he was after me.”

“After you?”

“...Yes,” Eren whispered. “Just like all the others.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,”

“Bullshit,” Levi said. “There’s always something.”

“I said _I don’t know,”_ Eren repeated. “It started months ago - someone broke into my rooms while I was away; they ransacked my sleeping chambers and left without a trace.”

“Could’ve been a robbery,” Levi pointed out.

“Nothing was taken.”

“Two months ago,” Eren continued, “I was out with friends, bought a round of drinks. I spilled mine into the pond by mistake. Five minutes later, fish were floating to the top of the water, spiked with a sleeping draught so powerful it killed the whole pond.

“Sounds like you need new friends.... And new fish.”

Eren glared at him.

“Six weeks ago, an arrow came within three inches of my face on a hunting trip when everyone in our party only had guns. Five weeks ago, someone injured my horse as I rode through the square, nearly sending her on a rampage. Three weeks ago, an explosion at a restaurant sent one of my clients to the burn ward. Last week, they almost got my best friend.”

“And you came here to run from them.”

“I’m not running!” Eren snapped. “I came here to figure out _why._ You’re a part of the Survey Corps, aren’t you? Isn’t this the kind of thing you investigate?”

“No. Go talk to the military police,” Levi said. “The _Marian_ military police.”

“They may be the ones trying to kill me,” Eren murmured. Levi was quiet. “I need your help.”

Before Levi could reply, there was a knock at the door.

Eren looked at Levi.

Levi looked at Eren.

“You can let me go now,” Eren huffed, finally going limp under Levi’s pin. “I’m not going to attack you again.”

Levi snorted. “Right.”

But Eren continued to lay still, and when Levi released the pin and rose to his feet, Eren did not move, even when Levi darted forward to grab the knife off the floor. Levi studied him suspiciously for a moment longer, but when he was convinced that the ambassador would keep his word, he moved to the door of the safehouse.

“Where does the white river flow fastest?” Levi called out, wrapping a hand around the door knob and keeping an eye on Eren the entire time. As he spoke, he committed the phrase to memory for later; it would have to be replaced now that the ambassador had heard it.

“ _Beyond the great walls where the titans roam,”_ Hanji replied, just loud enough for Levi to hear.

Levi opened the door.

Hanji lurched into the safe-house, a large leather-bound suitcase hanging heavily in their hands. They scanned the room thoroughly with a razor stare, lingering on Eren for a long moment before greeting Levi with a nod and setting the bag on the floor.

“Crow,” Levi greeted. The word was muffled a little by the mask across his face.

“Direwolf,” Hanji replied, glancing at Eren again as they called Levi by his codename. They studied Levi intently and their eyes missed nothing, raking over his disheveled appearance - his scorched clothes, the battered maneuver gear, the streaks of scarlet on his hands - with a look of growing concern. “Where is the rest of Squad _Lupus_?”

“Out,” Levi replied. He could tell from their links that his team was alive and on the move, presumably after the assassin, but that was all he knew. He sent a brief flash of concern to them before turning his attention back to Hanji. “Any intel from Eagle?”

Hanji shook their head. “Nothing new. Didn’t seem surprised by your distress signal though.”

So Erwin had known more than he had let on. Levi frowned. “We’re all fine, for the most part. Red may have received a minor injury but I have yet to get a distress signal from her.” _And Petra was tough_ , he reminded himself. She wasn’t called Red Wolf for nothing. “I just need you to take a look at something.

“With him free?” Hanji asked, looking over to Eren.

Eren had stayed right where he was, true to his word, but he was now sitting up and watching them with interest, curiosity having replaced the rage that had burned there before.

“...No,” Levi said slowly. “Ambassador, I’m either tying you up or knocking you out. Which is it.”

Eren grimaced, then offered his hands. “I’d prefer to stay conscious, since you’re kind enough to offer.”

Levi did his best to ignore Hanji’s snort as they handed him a short length of rope. “Smart kid,” Hanji chuckled, watching Levi help Eren into a chair and then tie Eren’s hands around the back of it. “Concussions last a lot longer than rope burns.”

“I wouldn’t have hit him that hard,” Levi muttered.

Eren made an affronted noise. Hanji laughed. “Sure you wouldn’t have,” Hanji replied. “Now. What did you do to yourself this time besides ruin your maneuver gear?” They tutted quietly as they ran a finger across the deep grooves left behind by the cobblestones Levi had skid across. “I thought I told you to be nicer to my equipment,” they grumbled. “This will have to be replaced.”

“I’ll try to avoid being thrown by a fucking giant next time,” Levi griped.

Hanji wasn’t listening. “What did this?” they murmured, lifting the shredded hem of his shirt and tracing the streaks across his chest. They had faded slightly, and the pins-and-needles feeling had receded from his stomach and his ribs, but Levi didn’t like the look of Hanji’s expression.

“The assassin landed a punch,” Levi muttered. “Or… something. It got a bit hazy there, for a moment.”

“No weapon?”

Levi shrugged. “Like I said, I didn’t get a really good look at what I was hit with. All I remember is being hit by something – and then I felt like I was on fire.”

All of a sudden, Eren gasped. “I know those marks,” he hissed, leaning forward for a closer look. “I’ve seen that kind of wound before.”

Levi and Hanji looked up. “How?” Hanji asked, at the same time as Levi asked, “Where?”

“I found those on my horse after the attack in the square a few weeks ago. I think that’s how they startled her,” Eren replied. Then, even softer, he added, “And those were the marks left on my friend,” he said. “It took almost a week for Armin to heal.”

“What was wrong with him?” Hanji demanded.

Eren shrugged, looking concerned. “I don’t really know. The doctor said it was nerve damage, but she couldn’t figure out how it happened.”

Hanji’s brow furrowed. “Neither can I,” they muttered, studying the deep red streaks again. Turning to Levi, Hanji asked, “Does it hurt now?”

“Not too bad,” Levi replied, rolling his shoulders, stretching and bending at the researcher’s wordless commands. “I can hardly feel anything. It just aches.”

“Sounds like they got your nerves too,” Hanji muttered. They turned from Levi and began rummaging through their bag. “I just have no idea what caused this.”

“Can you fix it?” Levi asked.

“Depends. If it’s just overstimulation, I can get them behaving again no problem – though bringing a real medic wouldn’t have hurt. If it’s damage…” Hanji’s voice trailed off.

“Yes?”

“Well, let’s just hope it’s overstimulation,” they muttered, rummaging around in their suitcase. When they turned back to Levi, they were holding a handful of needles. Very _long_ needles.

Levi paled. “What the hell, Ha-Crow?”

“This will help reactivate normal biological stimulation, agent. Your nervous system seems to have received a bad shock – this will help it recover.”

“I fail to see how,” Levi griped, backing away from the researcher, his hands itching for a weapon.

“You’d also fail to understand if I tried to explain it to you,” they muttered. “Now lie down. Do you want to return to the field after this or not?”

Levi glared at them.

The feeling of having fifteen needles slipped into his flesh was a strange one, but nowhere near as strange as the sensation of his nerves coming back to life – it felt like ants were crawling through his iced-over veins, and it made him want to scratch his skin off. But he could feel again, at least.

“Better?” Hanji was plucking needles from his flesh like feathers and they sounded pleased.

Levi grunted. Having his nerves back to normal meant feeling the scrapes and bruises on his side again. At least he’d been cleared for fieldwork.

“You got really lucky there, Levi,” Hanji murmured, their words spoken so quietly into Levi’s ear that only he could hear them. “If that had been your spinal cord, or any closer to your heart… there might not have been anything I could do for you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he muttered, bandaging his side again and slipping into a clean shirt.

“You should. And so should your squad, if you get the chance to tell them. Have you heard from them?”

Levi frowned. “Nothing urgent.” They had been buzzing around in the back of his mind though, like an itch he couldn’t scratch.

“You’ll want to meet up with them, then, once I leave, even if it's only briefly," Hanji replied, packing their things back into the heavy leather case. “They need to know to watch out for whatever this assassin is packing. I’m leaving my gear for you to use. New motor, fresh tank.”

“Right,” Levi said with a nod. “And Crow?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

The door closed quietly behind them.

“Alright,” Levi muttered as soon as Hanji had left. He rolled his shoulders and gave his arms a quick shake as he strapped the new gear to his harness, the awareness of his squad members shivering down his spine like goosebumps.

Hanji was right – his team was tough, but if the assassin had this kind of weapon on their side, they might not be able to afford to. “ _I'm on my way_ ,” he called to them silently, knowing they couldn’t hear him but they would understand him nonetheless.

“Going somewhere?”

“Yes,” Levi replied. “I need to get this information to my team.”

“And go after the assassin.”

“Yes,” Levi said again. “As a dangerous foreign operative on Sinan streets, my team and I are obligated to bring them in.”

“So you’ll help me?”

“This isn’t about you,” Levi said, cinching the clasps of his gear around his shoulders. “This is a matter of Sinan security - between the Survey Corps and the Crown and whoever this rogue assassin is. You don’t want this to be about you. Trust me.”

“What if it already is?” Eren asked quietly.

For a moment, Levi considered the young man sitting on a chair in the middle of the small room.

“...You better hope it’s not,” Levi finally muttered. “For your sake.” Eren watched him quietly but refused to meet his gaze, choosing instead to study the places he knew hid bandages, and beneath them, fresh wounds. “But it’s not my place to decide that, so until we figure that out, you’re staying here.

“And I’m going out,” Levi finished. His wounds were dressed, his gear was fresh, and he was cleared for the field. The empathy link, as strong as it was, wouldn't be able to relay something as detailed as this, and if his squad went in blind...

“And you’re going to leave me like this?” Eren demanded.

Levi eyed him coolly. “Yes. You are, if you’ll remember, _also_ a foreign agent within Sinan walls. You’re staying here.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“You haven’t given me a reason to yet,” Levi replied. “You want our help, ambassador, you’re going to have to give us something to work with. You want me to trust you? Be here when I return. I won’t be gone long.”

“…Alright, spy,” Eren murmured. “I’ll wait.”

Levi nodded once and then strode through the door without another word. The lock clicked shut behind him.

~~~

Levi took to the streets like a bird taking wing. The morning felt cool and crisp, the avenues not quite awake yet as the city slept on, hushed with the last traces of the night. Storekeepers and peddlers, leading carts with their wares, were just beginning to arrive at the market squares, where stalls with bright tents and awnings would soon paint the city in color. The bakeries he passed already teeming with activity, where bustling kitchens filled the air with warmth and the inviting scent of bread and pastries.

When he could, he kept a low profile, sticking to back alleys and quiet roads, passing quickly through the city squares and the slowly stirring streets, the hood of his cloak drawn close around his neck. He knew every secret to this city, from the busiest avenues to the hidden plazas to the shady backstreets. More than the palace, with its politics and its intrigue – even more than the battlefield and the draw of the action – Levi felt like he belonged here, like the city was his own.

It was too late in the day to use the maneuver gear without attracting attention, but Levi’s fingers held tight to the handles as he honed in on the faint empathetic sensations that pulled him towards his squad. He could pick out their locations almost instinctively, their presence shimmering in his mind’s eye like distant stars. He felt the whispers of their tension and, as he drew nearer, even their excitement as they recognized his presence one by one.

 _All the riches in the kingdom could never pay for this,_ Levi thought to himself, feeling a smile on his lips as he ran, not caring if his ribs protested.

He was unprepared for the raw, stabbing fear that suddenly erupted across his senses, sending him to his knees. Bile rose in his throat.

_Can’t move, can’t move, I CAN’T MOVE!_

_“No, Gunter!”_

Ice lanced through his chest.

Levi took the street in front of him at a full sprint, lurching around corners, barreling into people who shouted furiously at him as they picked themselves up off the cobblestones.

He didn’t care. He couldn’t hear them. Led blindly by the sensation of his friends’ pain ripping through every fiber of his being, Levi ran.

And when he couldn’t run anymore, he took flight, his heart slamming against his aching ribs as the grappling hooks sank into stone façades and shot him forward, wrenching him through sharp upswings and steep dives – anything that would get him there just a little bit faster, he had to be _faster…_ He could feel their links growing dimmer, one by one.

_They’re dying._

Levi tore into the plaza - just in time to see Petra get thrown into the side of a building.

Gunter collapsed on the pavement a few yards away. Blood leaked from two slashes across his chest and pooled across the cobblestones beneath him.

Eld, his blond hair loose and bloodied, was sprawled against the fountain, his back bent at an impossible angle.

And Auruo… Auruo was shouting, eyes manic and full of fire, at the cloaked figure standing in the center of it all. Levi watched helplessly as the assassin’s foot connected with the side of his friend’s face, dropping him to the pavement with a sickening _crack!_

The air was thick with the sounds of screaming, of shouting, and the clatter of iron horseshoes beating heavily through the streets.

Levi heard nothing.

The air was heavy with the scent of sweat and blood and fear, but Levi didn't need the wind to pull the stench away from his consciousness.

Levi sensed nothing.

For in Levi’s mind, his only thought was the desperate _need_ to feel those familiar sensations that let him know his that his friends were well, that his friends were safe, that his friends were _alive_ …

But Levi felt nothing.

Levi only had eyes for the assassin who looked up at him and regarded him calmly, their expression unreadable beyond the mask that covered their slim face. As Levi hurtled back towards the earth, hands wrapped tightly around a pair of long, vicious-looking blades, he marveled distantly at how much he would enjoy the simple act of cutting the assassin down.

He never got the chance.

A sound like thunder shot through the morning air like cannon-fire. From somewhere in the eastern district, smoke began to billow into the sky.

The safe-house was in the eastern district. _The ambassador._

Below him, the assassin studied him coldly for a moment longer, then took off at a sprint, forcing Levi to make a choice.

A wordless scream ripped through Levi’s throat.

He landed with a crash in front of a group of military police, startling the horses and startling their riders even more. “Get these people to the palace infirmary _now!”_ he commanded, daring the soldiers to defy him.

And then he was gone.

~~~

By the time Levi arrived in the eastern district, the safe-house was in shambles, fire still dripping down the building's façade like rain. Once, Levi’s stomach might have lurched at the thought of going in – no one ever truly adjusted to the sight of a body burned beyond recognition.

But now he just felt hollow.

Levi used the maneuver gear to hoist himself into the second-floor apartment. The stairs had taken a beating in the blast and were unsafe to use.

Hadn't he left a few minutes ago? When had it become an eternity?

He took a deep breath. Smelled the smoke. Steeled himself.

Silent and cold, he wandered the wreckage like a wraith, searching for life... but he found none. No body, no burning man pouring his life out onto the cinders, no sign of anyone, anyone at all.

The safe-house had been empty when it burned, Levi realized, a chill slipping down his spine.

The ambassador was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 is complete and will be posted next Wednesday, and I promise nothing terrible will happen to our faves between now and then, please subscribe for more! Also, even if all you do is scream at me, your comments and kind words mean a lot to me ~ let me know what you think!


	4. The Abandoned Outpost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Note ~ Squad Names: There are three major spy squads in the Survey Corps, each with their own name and code names. Levi heads up Squad Lupus, and he and his squad-mates have been given the names of different wolf species as code names. Mike leads Squad Ursidae - bears - and Hanji leads Squad Corvidae - crows/ravens.

The east tower was empty and Levi was distantly glad for it.

It meant no one would get in his way.

Levi prowled through the spy tower, body prickling as a cold electricity poured through him, filling his blood with frost. He moved without really having to think, soundlessly gathering what he would need. A fresh tank of gas. A new cloak. Knives from the armory.

_ Gunter. Auruo. Petra. Eld. _ Levi couldn’t breathe without seeing their faces, their bodies lying broken on the blood-stained stone. He traced the edge of the knife in his hand with his thumb as the chill in his blood turned his heart to ice.

“Going somewhere?” a low voice asked.

Levi whirled, startled by the voice. He hadn’t even heard Erwin come in. “What does it look like?” he snapped.

“It looks like you’re preparing for a hit,” Erwin replied.

Levi grew still, a breath hissing through his teeth.

“I can’t let you do that, Levi.” Sitting, as he was, in the shadows, Erwin could barely make out Levi’s silhouetted expression – not that he needed to. He could feel the other spy’s cruel steel gaze boring into him, angry, aching, and barely controlled.

Lethal.

“You’re not an assassin.”

“I’m a spy,” Levi hissed, his scowl hidden by the black mask that covered the lower portion of his face. “It’s part of the job.”

“You’re also the prince.” Erwin shot back, eyes alight. “Part of that job is upholding the justice of the kingdom.”

“My friends are dead!” Levi snarled, the knife in his hand flying from his fingertips and burying itself, blade first, deep into the wooden floor. “What about that seems  _ just _ to you?”

“Nothing,” Erwin replied coolly, “but more death will not change that, and there is more at stake here than you seem to think. You have an obligation to the people of this kingdom – the people you will one day rule, Levi – to act with justice at all times. Bring the assassin in alive or withdraw from this mission. I will not support the crowning of a killer.”

“Is that a threat?” Levi growled.

Erwin considered him over the bridge of his fingers. “That’s really up to you, isn’t it.”

_ It really shouldn’t be, _ Levi thought, feeling the ice underneath his skin finally splinter from the pressure. He could feel the edges of himself crack and crumble like burnt paper.  _ Give me the battlefield, and I’ll fight for my life. Hell, hand me the streets and let me do as I please. But a kingdom? A nation? _

_ I’m not meant for these chains. _

“You can come in now, Hanji,” Erwin called quietly. Without another look to Levi, the spymaster moved behind his desk and settled wearily into his chair.

The researcher was far more solemn than usual as they entered the room, their subdued smile freezing on their face when they saw the special operations captain waiting for the blow to fall.

“All four members of Squad  _ Lupus _ have been recovered, Commander,” Hanji murmured, their gaze fixed firmly on the floor.

They saw Levi flinch anyways.

“And?”

“It’s… bad, Erwin.” Hanji’s voice was almost inaudible. “They’re alive, they’re all alive, but…”

_ But they’re not going to make it, _ Levi finished in his head. The unspoken words hung heavily in the air.

“Moblit’s with them,” Hanji continued. “The whole medical team, actually. They’ve been given top priority and –”

“Hanji,” Levi muttered. Leaning over, he plucked the dagger from the floor and slipped it back into its sheath. “The rest of the report.”

_ Please. _

“Ah, right. The rest of the report…”

Hanji, however, was cut off by a sharp yelp from beyond the door. The sound was quickly followed by a flurry of disgruntled, muted protests, which grew louder as the door swung open and Mike walked in, carrying a blond-haired young man under one arm and a dark-haired woman – still kicking viciously – under the other.

“Wasn’t entirely sure if you were expecting an audience, Eagle,” Mike said calmly, sauntering into the room and dropping his cargo unceremoniously onto the floor.

The young woman was on her feet in an instant, brushing her skirt with her hands and looking decidedly peeved; but Levi noticed her posture immediately, recognizing the tension in her hands and shoulders, the subtle shift in her balance.  _ A fighter, _ Levi mused.  _ Strange skill for a noblewoman. _ Especially a noblewoman related to the royal family, for the young woman was none other than Mikasa Ackerman - his own cousin. 

He didn’t recognize her friend, a young man with fine blond hair who moved cautiously, thoughtfully, as he collected his bearings. When he stood, he positioned himself where he could best see all the faces in the room and he studied the spymaster briefly before settling upon Levi with an uncomfortably sharp gaze.

Levi suddenly felt extremely grateful for the mask he wore. Moving on instinct, his hands snapped up and pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, hiding his face further before anyone got a good look. Quick as she was, Mikasa would recognize him in a heartbeat - if her friend hadn’t already.

“Squad Leader,” Erwin said, “what is going on here?”

“These two were sneaking around the eastern tower,” Mike replied. “Lady Ackerman appears to have convinced the castle guards that she was here to pay a surprise visit to Her Majesty and she disguised her friend here as her attendant to sneak them in. I found them snooping in the library.” 

Levi raised an eyebrow. The tower library wasn’t too far from here - and it served as the back entrance to the Survey Corps’ private infirmary.

“They were looking for the headquarters of the Survey Corps,” Mike finished.

Mikasa’s eyes flashed momentarily, but she betrayed no other sign of frustration or fear. “I was lost,” she said calmly. “I was simply looking for my aunt. If you point us in the right direction, my friend and I will be on our way.” With a pointed look at Mike, she added, “And I’ll consider keeping quiet about my treatment if you let us leave at once.”

“...Forgive me, Lady, but that won’t be happening, ” Erwin replied, smiling faintly. “I’m afraid I don’t find your story all that believable.” 

Mikasa’s companion winced slightly.

“Now, see here,” Mikasa began. “I am a member of the royal family. Holding my friend and I against our will is an act of high treason - I could have you arrested for this.”

“Actually,” Erwin said slowly, leaning back in his chair as he calmly steepled his fingers and watched Mikasa over the tips with his eyes gleaming, “the only act of treason here is the infiltration of the Crown’s intelligence headquarters by an advisor to a foreign leader. Am I correct, Master Arlert?”

“You are, Spymaster,” the young man said hoarsely, the tips of his ears going pink.

Erwin nodded, turning his attentions back to Mikasa, who had become rather stone-faced. “So why don’t we drop the pretenses and discuss why you’re really here.”

Mikasa remained silent. Erwin eyed her thoughtfully.

“Would it have something to do with a certain Marian ambassador?” Erwin prompted.

“What have you done with Eren?” Mikasa demanded, dropping her innocent facade so quickly Levi saw several of the people in the room do a double take. From where he stood, Levi watched her shift forward and lower her center, her eyes flickering around the room as she prepared for a fight. “I know you have him.” Her hand clenched around something hidden in the folds of her skirt. Tension shivered through the air.

“If you draw that knife, Lady,” Levi murmured, “you will regret it.”

Mikasa whirled, taking a threatening step towards Levi. “Regret or no, I have half a mind to stick you with it anyways. I know you’re the one who took him - we were there when you attacked.”

Levi started. He hadn’t known anyone else had been in carriage with the ambassador. Eren said he had been travelling alone.

He also said he’d stay at the safe house.

“Where is Eren?” Mikasa demanded again, pulling away from Arlert’s restraining hand.

“That would be the question we’re all trying to figure out,” Levi said coldly. “For all we know, he could be dead.”

“He isn’t dead,” Mikasa snapped.

Something chilling gleamed in Levi’s eye then. “Oh? And what makes you think that?” he asked sharply, facing the young woman directly. “Is it the scorched remains of the safe-house where he was supposed to be hiding? Or maybe the  _ mercy _ those assassins showed my squad this morning, when they all but ripped them apart?”

“Captain,” Erwin reproached.

Levi turned, eyes blazing. “Would you want me to lie,  _ Eagle _ ? Jaeger may have been gone when I got to the safe-house, but the house itself was in ruins – blown to smithereens,” he snapped. “Do they seem like the kind of people who would take him alive? And even if they had, would we even know where to start looking?”

“…I might know.”

Five pairs of eyes turned to stare at the young man.

Armin blanched at the sudden attention, but continued. “After the first 'assassination' attempt, I hired a string of private guards to tail Eren secretly and follow whoever launched an attack. We failed the first time -” he grimaced here, his hands knotting into tight fists - “but after that, we followed them all the way to Ragako before we lost them.”

“Every time?” Erwin asked, looking thoughtful.

Armin nodded. “They always head there first. If it’s the same people, they’re probably on their way there already.”

“When were you going to tell me this?” Mikasa muttered.

“Oh!” Armin looked away, carding his hand sheepishly through the half-ponytail at the crown of his head. “Ah, we… weren’t,” he replied. “Eren’s idea – he figured you’d try going after them yourself if you knew where to look.”

Her expression, at that moment, could shear through stone. Armin flinched. Levi wondered what kind of noblewoman would willingly pursue violent assassins – and hope to win. Something told him he didn't know his cousin quite as well as he might've thought.

“Very well,” Erwin said, drawing the attention of the room. “Squad Leader?” he asked, ignoring Levi as he looked pointedly at Mike. “What’s the status on Squad  _ Ursidae _ ?”

Mike frowned. “All of my squad members are away on assignments, Commander. We’ve had our hands full hunting down the members of that gang in Rose, and it'll take them a week to cross the mountain range's winter pass. I’m the only one unassigned at the moment.”

_ And Hanji’s team is at the armory, handling the release of the maneuver gear to the military. _ Levi thought grimly, watching Erwin avoid his gaze, knowing what it meant.  _ You don’t have a lot of options, Commander. _

“I’m going as well,” Levi stated, daring Erwin to say otherwise. He could see the challenge in those pale blue eyes, but he ignored it. “I have a mission to complete.”

“…Very well.”

But even then, a two-man squad wouldn’t be enough for a mission like this.

“I also want in,” Mikasa said suddenly.

Armin was quick to respond. “Mikasa, no – these people are dangerous!”

“With all due respect, Lady Mikasa,” Hanji said, alarm pulling at their brow, “your friend is right. These assailants, whoever they are, have proven beyond all doubt that they are not to be trifled with. It’d be far –”

“What makes you think you won’t slow us down?” Levi asked quietly. Everyone fell silent.

Mikasa leveled a hard glare at him.

“Shadis seems to think she makes the cut,” Erwin said after a moment, watching the tense exchange with a hawk-like look in his eyes.

Levi frowned. “Shadis just passed thirty percent of this year’s trainee class,” he retorted. His eyes never left Mikasa’s.

“She was the top,” Erwin replied, nodding to the young woman. “He recommended her to me personally for one of the candidates for next year's recruitment. I was going to discuss the nomination with you today, in fact.”

“I accept,” Mikasa said tersely.

“It isn’t a matter of just accepting,” Levi countered. “This is your entire future, your family, your friends – people have given everything for the Survey Corps.”

“Are you willing to offer up your life for our cause?” Erwin murmured.

“I’m not afraid of dying.”

“Dying isn’t the worst of it.” Levi’s voice was raw. 

_ Petra, dashed against a building. Gunter, bleeding on the stone. Auruo, dropping to the pavement. Eld, broken beyond repair. _

_ ‘They’re alive, they’re all alive, but…’ _

“You might actually have to live afterwards,” he finished quietly. “Can you accept that?”

Mikasa was still.

“Yes.”

Erwin nodded, once.

Mike shrugged.

Hanji beamed.

Armin paled.

“…Alright then,” Levi muttered, flicking his cloak over his shoulders. “Let’s go.”

~~~

They left at once, riding hard, with the cool winter sun bleeding through the dust at their backs. 

The outpost at Ragako was miles from the capital – miles from anywhere – and they had no time to lose. Levi didn’t want to think about what might happen if he was too late again.

He led the team through the back-roads like a thief, stealing in and out of the awareness of the passersby without a second thought, a second glance. To them, he was invisible – a good spy always was – and no one watched them as they passed. They were shadows, fading with the morning light.

They didn’t speak until they reached the city’s outer gate.

“So, Lady,” Levi began, drawing his horse alongside hers. Mike would take the lead until Ragako was in their sights. “How long have you been playing at war?”

Mikasa looked at him warily before replying. “A while now.”

“Any particular reason?”

She shrugged, a wry smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “I don’t really know,” she said. “I think the royal family has a natural fascination with espionage - wouldn’t you agree,  _ cousin?” _

Levi started in surprise. “You knew?”

“I’m sorry, did the Survey Corps recruit more than one tiny, irritable agent?” she asked lightly. “One bored royal heir wasn’t enough?”

Levi snorted. “Apparently not, if they’re recruiting  _ you,” _ he bit back. But he couldn’t keep the severe expression on his face for long, and it eventually gave way to a thin smile. “How did you get involved in all this?” He could still remember the day she was born, could remember her in colorful dresses, holding her father’s hand as she hid behind her mother’s skirts at the ball, quiet and shy.

He didn’t remember her growing up.

“After the raid in Maria,” she replied. “When I was nine.” 

He remembered that. The king himself had overseen their protection detail after the attack. He had been furious.

“If it hadn't been for a total stranger - for Eren - who knows where I would've ended up." She paused, weighing her words for a moment before continuing. "I don’t like being helpless.”

Levi could sympathize. “When did the training begin?”

Mikasa shrugged. “I dabbled a little, after that. The other ladies at the boarding school learned sewing. I learned swordplay. They read poetry. I read cryptography. Things like that. When my parents found out, they weren’t angry – not for long, anyways. They hired a private instructor; I began hand-to-hand lessons when I was eleven, and I began using it a... little more practically," she looked away briefly, her fingers playing across the back of her hand, where Levi could see thin slivers of scar tissue when she moved her fingers away. Backstreet knife fights. He shook his head, quietly impressed. "Eventually," the young woman continued, "Eren and Armin went off to finish their studies in Maria, and I came back here and started basic training at the Royal Military Academy here in Sina."

A small smile played across her lips as the memories returned to her. "Eren had been so disappointed at that - at going off to finishing school and into diplomacy instead of ending up in the armed forces. He wanted to come with. And he might even have made it to the end of basic training,” she recalled. "He made a pretty decent fighter, when he put his mind to it."

Levi raised an eyebrow. He didn’t recall the safe-house showing any signs of a struggle – but then, it had been burned. “I didn’t know he could fight.”

Mikasa looked at him solemnly. “There are a lot of things people don’t know about Eren,” she murmured.

But she wouldn't explain further, and before Levi could ask, she pulled gently on the reins and guided her horse to the back of the formation, effectively ending the conversation.

They rode in silence, cloaks snapping in the wind as the horses beat their frantic pace into the earth. The farther they got from the capital city, the fewer people they saw – until all at once, they traveled alone, the sun rising higher and higher on their backs, burning off the mist held close over the frost-silvered plains. For Levi, the silence ached. More than once, he pressed his eyes shut, waiting, searching for the shiver of his team’s presence.

_ Nothing. _ His senses were quiet.

He was alone.

Without warning, Mike suddenly pulled his horse to a halt.

“Someone’s been by here,” he muttered, sniffing the air.

Mikasa sniffed once, then gave Mike a doubtful look. Levi resisted the urge to smirk, choosing instead to scan the horizon.

“It’s recent,” Mike continued. “Four… maybe five people, on horseback. Ragako is just ahead of us – we’ll intercept them there. Direwolf. Take the lead.”

Ragako lay barren at the foot of a low swell of hills, as if the village itself had been lying in wait for something that never came. The place reminded Levi of an old, forgotten cemetery, abandoned long ago by those who built it and reclaimed by all those lying underground. Levi shivered. The village was quiet.

“There’s no one here,” Mikasa breathed.

Ragako was empty.

_ What happened here? _ Half the village stood in ruin, with buildings burned or broken, doors torn from their hinges, shutters hanging weakly from the windows, and curtains limp like ragged ghosts. Yet other buildings were completely intact, touched only by moss and creeping vines as the earth reclaimed the land. The clip of horseshoes on the broken cobblestone echoed hollowly around Levi's ears.

The air smelled like ozone.

“Captain! Look out!”

A crackle of red lightning in his periphery was Levi’s only warning. He flung himself from his horse –

– he watched numbly from midair as the assassin sailed past him, both hands lit with scarlet flares, blue eyes burning –

– and then he was jolted sideways as the grappling hooks caught and the maneuver gear revved, flicking him backwards into a tight corkscrew. Levi was ready for it; another grappling hook screamed from his left, pulling him high into the sky. Mikasa intercepted the assassin with a vicious snarl, twin blades gleaming in her hands.

“Not bad,” Levi huffed. The words were snatched away by the wind.

There was another roar as a second assassin – much bigger than the first – came barreling at Mike, who leapt aside as his horse went down screaming, caught by the flickering blow meant for its rider. Levi pivoted, angling to aid his comrade, when Mike motioned him away.

“Ahead!”

Levi looked.

At the far end of the village, two horsemen sprang from their hiding places, racing westward like twin arrows from a bow. On the back of one horse, behind the rider, lay the body of another person, gagged and bound at the ankles and the wrists. The rider had to hold him tight – his prisoner was fighting and thrashing for dear life.

_ Eren Jaeger. _

“I’m on it!” Levi yelled as twin grappling hooks hissed through the air and he launched himself into nothingness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 is complete and will be posted next Wednesday, if you're liking the fic, please subscribe. :D Also, your comments and kind words mean a lot to me ~ let me know what you think!


	5. The Second Strike

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Why is it that every time I leave you on your own, things blow up?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter-specific Tags: Canon-similar Violence, PTSD

In flight, the world became nothing more than a series of impressions.

The wind tore at Levi’s face and hair, snatching the breath from his lips, snapping at the mantle of his cloak, colors running together in the sun. From behind him, an angry bellow, a fervent scream. From within, the twisted knot of his stomach, the thrum of adrenaline.

Ahead, a rider shouted.

“I said, _be still!_ ”

A flash of scarlet.

Eren stilled.

Blood shrieked through Levi’s ears as he pushed himself faster still, pulse pounding, his body aching from the force of the cables that pulled him skyward.

_Don’t be dead._

His foot connected with the assassin’s flesh, throwing the man from his horse with a howl Levi couldn’t hear – metal claws flashed out and Levi pivoted midair, ignoring the shock to his system as his body resisted, then obeyed.

Grabbing the ambassador felt like colliding with a brick wall, but Levi pulled Eren close anyways and swung to the safety of a nearby rooftop, landing along the moss-slick shingles with a skidding crash.

“Eren – Eren can you hear me?”

Eren’s head rolled slackly to one side.

“Shit!” Levi hissed, jamming two fingers below Eren’s jaw, locating the vein with shaking hands.

Finding a pulse.

_Alive._ Eren’s chest gave a shallow rise and fall, rise and fall – the skin beneath the scorched clothing mottled and raw, streaked with red and violet. His eyes, squeezed shut, traced frantic, unseen patterns beneath heavily shadowed lids. From his lips, muted whispers, faint cries.

_“…please, no… stop it, no…”_

Battered, but alive.

Levi’s head snapped up, his hands falling to his sides, grasping twin hilts. He pinpointed the locations of the two assassins - the rider and his injured companion - instantly. A grimace cut at his lips.

_And now for you._

The crunch of old wood gasping under a metal grip, the fevered hiss of whirring cords and humming gears, the snap of the wind – these were the only warning signs of the approaching storm. The blades in Levi’s hands sang in the wind as he tore through the sky, splitting the air like lightning.

The roar of his target was his thunder.

The mounted assassin let out a bellow, barely managing to remain on his horse as Levi slashed into him, falling out of the sky with a feral snarl. Snapping back and landing in a sprint, Levi ducked beneath the assassin’s swinging blade to slice through the saddle straps, making the horse bolt as its  rider fell to the ground.

Levi was on the man in an instant.

“Heard you gave my friends some trouble this morning – even after all I did to take you apart,” Levi hissed, pummeling the fallen rider with a barrage of vicious blows. Blue eyes, strong nose, thick neck, ribs; he wouldn’t be getting up this time. Levi ignored the sting of his opponent’s blows to strike again and again, staining his hands with flecks of red. “Guess I’ll have to do a better job.”

His words were riven by a high-pitched keen. The hairs on the back of Levi’s neck stood on end.

A blinding flash – and the blast blew through the building behind him.

“Eren!” Levi shouted, turning on the spot. The building was in shambles, the rooftop masked behind a screen of steam. Cursing furiously, he sheathed his daggers and angled the grappling gear towards the rooftop.

_Why is it that every time I leave you on your own, things blow up?_

He pulled the triggers.

Just as the gear snapped forward, something heavy barreled into him, sending him sprawling into the ground. Knocked off course, only one of the hooks caught and the gear spluttered and jerked at his waist, dragging him through the dirt as he choked around the pain of the blow.

_What the– ?_

The second impact left Levi reeling.

The third made his ears ring. He staggered forward on his hands and knees, tugging at the cable to get away faster.

A hand grabbed him by the nape of his neck and lifted him up, right off his feet.

“I’m sorry,” the attacker muttered, his voice muffled by a mask, “but you’re getting in the way.”

And with that, Levi was smashed into the ground.

_Who the fuck is this?_ It was the only coherent thought in his mind, his struggles weakening as each blow drove the breath from his lungs.

Ribs.

Shoulder.

Back.

Each hit erratic and too damn strong, each enough to shake the ground beneath him. Levi felt as though his bones would shatter.

_The second assassin had been nearly out cold – I saw to that myself... didn't I?_

He couldn’t remember. Black spots danced headily in his vision. His mouth tasted like iron. The first assassin? The one who’d taken Eren… but Levi had broken his shoulder. He remembered the feeling of bone cracking beneath him.

He didn’t punch like he had a broken shoulder.

“How the hell did you heal so fast?” Levi hissed into the dirt.

He wouldn’t get an answer.

A sizzling sound drew him back to full clarity. He knew that sound – and it made his stomach clench. Already he ached with the anticipation.

_“You got really lucky, Levi… If that had been your spinal cord, or any closer to your heart… there might not have been anything I could do for you.”_

Petra. Auruo. Gunter. Eld.

_Might be joining you sooner than I thought._

He felt the assassin’s body coil. The crackling grew louder.

And someone roared.

The sound was deafening – Levi felt a sharp pain in his ear. But he also felt the assassin pull away in alarm, release him, and stagger backwards.

Levi turned just enough to watch Eren take the assassin by the arm and hurl him bodily to the ground, the sound of bones breaking making Levi flinch. The assassin didn’t move again.

And then there was a hand around his wrist, too hot to the touch, and they were running, tearing through the empty streets as if they had hell on their heels.

“Eren!” Levi choked, trying – and failing – to yank his hand away. Any faster and Levi would be dragged. “Eren – you maniac, let me go!”

Eren didn’t seem to hear him. Or if he did, he paid no attention.

Cursing viciously, Levi sank his heels into the ground and threw a kick around Eren’s leg, sending him sprawling. Though it took everything he had left, Levi managed to catch the ambassador by the elbow before he fell, and he wrenched Eren around to stare him down.

“I’m sure you didn’t notice,” Levi spit, “but I was just beat within a fraction of my fucking life, so if you could have at least a shred of decency…”

Eren’s eyes were blank. Lifeless. That glittering green of his had been replaced by a dirty gold, and the sclera was streaked with burst veins.

_He’s burning up,_ Levi realized, feeling his hand grow warm, then hot, on Eren’s skin. And the sizzling numbness that crackled from out of the boy’s touch on his wrist was all too familiar.

“What the- ?” Levi hissed, jerking away from Eren’s grasp.

Eren ignored him, that empty gaze of his swiveling around to the east and focusing on something in the distance.

_The others…_ The fight.

Eren was off like a shot.

“Fucking hell!” Levi snarled, punching the triggers on his gear and taking to the air.

Eren was fast – alarmingly so. His feet, now bare, beat his madness into the earth, and his fists pumped wildly, every movement pushing him forward with a single-minded ferocity. Even now, steam curled off his body, as if he was burning up from the inside out.

_What the hell are you, Eren?_

A few yards ahead, the sounds of battle clamored across the abandoned stone. From the air, Levi caught glimpses of Mike going head to head with another behemoth of a man, whose hands glowed dangerously with the same blood-red energy the other assassins had possessed. Nearby, Mikasa was fighting viciously with the slender assassin. They seemed well-matched, too close to call.

Eren bellowed.

“I don’t think so,” Levi grumbled. Angling himself properly, Levi dropped like a stone to come alongside Eren and, with a flick of the cables, ram into his side. The fell together, tumbling over the cobblestones, and when Eren managed to get up, Levi surrounded him, pinning his arms to his sides and holding him back with all his strength.

“Snap out of it! You’ll be no good to anyone if you’re too stupid to fight!”

Eren snarled, his hands scrabbling for purchase against Levi’s grip. He was almost too hot to touch, but Levi bore down anyways.

“Listen to me – do you want Mikasa getting hurt?” Levi demanded, grabbing Eren’s chin and wrenching it sideways, forcing him to look at the brawl a few yards away. Mikasa struck ferociously, twin blades gleaming in the sun.

“No!” the ambassador gasped, and he shuddered once, violently, before growing very still. Steam hissed on his breath, and the numbness prickling through Levi’s arms slowly ceased.

“You can let me go now, Captain,” Eren said quietly, his hands coming to rest on Levi’s wrists.

“What the hell was that?” Levi hissed, pulling the ambassador around by the shoulder so he could look him in the eyes. “You’re _one of them?”_

“I didn’t know.” Eren knotted his hands into tight fists to keep them from shaking, yet his voice gave him away, ragged and hoarse…

…and afraid.

“I swear I didn’t know. I don’t know what happened.”

“Has this happened before?”

Wide, gaping, green eyes. Brilliant green eyes. Levi tried not to feel relieved by that. “No, I...” Eren frowned, panic thick on his face.

“Who did this to you?” Levi demanded.

“I don’t know!” Eren’s voice cracked. “I don’t know what happened. It’s never happened before – I didn’t, I couldn’t…”

Now was not the time for this. Eren needed to stay calm. So Levi clapped his hand on the ambassador’s shoulder. “It’s alright,” he murmured, staring hard, revealing nothing. “I’m glad... It's good you’re okay.”

“…Thanks,” Eren replied. “And you– ?”

“I’ll be fine.”

Eren suddenly went rigid – Levi sensed the edge, feeling the heat prickle across his palm once more.

Mikasa was lunging, blade arcing for the opening in the assassin’s guard. Knowing exactly where the blade would land, knowing she’d won, Levi could almost see the look of grim triumph on the girl’s face.

And he could clearly see the trap.

The assassin dropped and swung, lashing out with a brutal kick, catching Mikasa off-guard. Sparks flew. Mikasa crumbled. The assassin drew a blade.

“Mikasa!” Eren screamed.

And then suddenly, there was Mike, using the gear to cut in at the last second, turning his back on the mammoth assassin to launch himself forward, catching the blade between his palms. A streak of scarlet spun through the air.

But the other assassin wasn’t done. Grinning cruelly, the man reached into his cloak, pulling out three wicked-looking throwing knives and taking aim.

Levi froze.

_Petra, thrown into the side of a building._

_Gunter, collapsed on the pavement. Ripped to shreds._

_Eld, lying broken on the fountain._

_Auruo, falling to the ground._

And Levi had done nothing. He’d stood by in shock, watching his friends die before his eyes, unable to move, to think. He couldn’t protect his friends - he should have known that by now. He'd failed them all.

_The air was thick with the sounds of screaming, of shouting, and the clatter of iron horseshoes beating heavily through the streets. The scent of fear was heavy on the wind – useless, useless… – below him, the assassin studied him coldly…_

…and now he'd fail Mike.

How would Levi tell Erwin – how could he – that the only part of the Survey Corps’ best spy that would return from this mission was the winged crest over his heart, and that it would be his fault completely?

_I can’t move I can’t move I can’t move I CAN’T MOVE I CAN’T –_

The assassin threw.

“ _Go!”_

Rough hands shoved into Levi’s back and the world slipped into slow motion.

Twin grappling hooks rocketed forward, hissing like fearsome alley-cats as they shot through the fray and sank their claws in deep and suddenly Levi was moving, flying, as the daggers streaked through the air.

With one hand, he drew his own dagger, letting the momentum turn his body as the cables yanked him forward; with the other, he snatched his cloak back from the clutches of the wind, holding the fabric firmly between his fingers.

As he fell into the crosshairs, Levi pivoted.

The fabric caught the wind like a bird’s wing and Levi snapped it backwards, swallowing two of the throwing knives and deflecting the third, rendering all three useless. The dagger in his other hand lashed out in a silver arc, slicing at the slender assassin even as she tried to slip a blade between Mike’s ribs – when he saw the fear in her eyes, he smiled. The dagger shattered when it came in contact with the armor hidden beneath the assassin’s clothing, but it mattered not – Mike dove forward, snatched Mikasa in his arms, and bolted to safety.

Levi landed with a roll, twisted, and leapt at the assassin with a furious snarl. The dagger was useless, so he threw it aside, choosing instead to fight with his hands, wanting to feel the burn of the assassin’s touch, the throb of their pulse. It didn’t matter that he was weak, that his body was breaking – it did not matter that his muscles screamed and his bones ached – he would do this.

He would do this, or die trying.

The thought didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would.

They collided with a crash, Levi’s first punch blocked and his second one brushed aside. But his kick landed, and the third punch did too, connecting with the assassin’s abdomen. He wove beneath the assassin’s jabs, bobbing out of instinct, moving as fast as his body allowed. He felt, vaguely, the ankle smash into his knee, but it didn’t matter – he used the opening to pummel the assassin with everything he had. The assassin stumbled, fell.

Muscles shrieking, bones resisting, body shuddering on the edge, Levi lunged.

And warm hands wrapped around Levi’s arms, pulling him back. Levi struggled, kicking and thrashing, yet the hands just held on tight – even when Levi’s heels connected with hard bone.

“Stop,” Eren whispered, his breath too hot along the shell of Levi’s ear. “You've done enough.”

A wave of stillness shivered through him, and Levi crumpled into Eren’s arms.

The slender assassin took the chance, turned, and ran. Their partner appeared on horseback – they fled together, leaving ruins in their wake.

Suddenly weary, Levi got slowly to his feet, watching the horsemen – all four of them – ride westward with a creeping numbness in his heart. After making sure the spy could stand, Eren moved to his side. Neither man spoke.

“Eren!”

Eren staggered forward as Mikasa tackled him from behind, pulling her friend into a crushing hug.

“Thanks for coming after me, Mika.”

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” she whispered into his shirt.

When Levi tried to step aside, his leg buckled beneath him and he stumbled – only to be caught from behind by the towering spy, who soundlessly righted Levi and then stood to his other side, smiling slightly.

“Thanks,” Mike muttered, looking aside. “You know. For back there.”

At the sound of Mike’s voice, Mikasa looked up from Eren’s shoulder and aimed a gentle smile at Levi, repeating the sentiment. But Levi only shook his head, motioning instead with his stronger hand to Eren.

“Thank him,” he murmured quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Arc 1.
> 
> Alright, Chapter 6, the beginning of Arc 2, is already complete ~ and it comes with a _surprise_ (of the best sort, I promise) :) I'm going to be out of town next week, so I'll post the chapter in a week or so. If you're enjoying the fic so far, please let me know in the comments! Your kind words help me keep churning out chapters. :D


	6. The Long Road

They rode back in silence. 

Exhaustion lay heavily on their shoulders, numbing them more effectively than the chill of the winter evening. Levi’s whole body ached. His wounds throbbed with the fall of his horse’s every step - he didn’t need Dr. Berner’s expertise to know that the assassin had bruised a good number of his ribs and had fractured at least one of them. After the beating he’d sustained, he was probably lucky he wasn’t dead. Levi couldn’t remember the last time he’d ended a mission in such a shape. 

Or with so many unanswered questions.

Just  _ who  _ were those assassins? Hanji had said that they left strange injuries, that they had damaged his nerves, but when Levi had attacked them they fought back without weapons, using only their hands to pummel him into the dirt. 

_ So what were those red flashes? _

The memory of the morning’s beating made Levi shiver. Whatever those assassins were, it wasn’t something Levi had ever faced before.

Then what did that make Eren Jaeger? There was no mistaking that electric touch - the energy that had emanated from Eren’s grip during the fight was the same as the power that had left Levi numb to all sensation that morning. The same power that had helped the assassin decimate the members of Levi’s squad. Enemies or not, Jaeger and his kidnappers had more in common than the ambassador had let on.

_ So why are you running? _ Levi mused, looking ahead and studying the ambassador’s fatigued figure. Eren Jaeger lay propped up against Mikasa’s back, asleep - or close to it - after the long ride from Ragako, any sign of his mysterious abilities gone.

_ “ _ _ I don’t know what happened _ _.” _

Levi shook his head. Trying to piece through all his questions felt like trying to swim in storm-tossed waters, and the harder he fought the faster he drowned. His temples throbbed.

It didn’t add up.

They split up once they reached the city’s outer walls, trading their horses and travelling cloaks at the safe-house run by the owner of a quiet inn. As night fell, a carriage arrived, plain, discrete, and Mike guided a weary Mikasa and the dozing ambassador inside. Levi followed on horseback shortly after, watching the shadows thrown by the streetlights that burned with the same shade of gold as the eyes that haunted his thoughts.

~~~

The party was waiting for Levi at the entry to the eastern tower when he arrived, Eren almost asleep on his feet and Mikasa in nearly the same state. Mike watched them carefully out of the corner of his eye as Levi approached, still ready for anything despite the long journey they had endured.

“Take them to the infirmary,” Levi said. “Keep them apart as much as possible, and have Moblit put Eren in the back room. Make sure Crow sees to him.”

Mike raised an eyebrow. The back room was no ordinary infirmary - it was heavily guarded, with the only entrance locked from the outside and only one window, a small one positioned above the bed, with iron bars crossed over the thick-glass panes. 

A room meant for prisoners.

If Mike had any concerns about the cryptic instructions, he made no sign of it. “And where will you be?” the taller spy asked.

“Not far,” Levi muttered. “I have a few questions that need answers before the night is through.”

Mike frowned. “You should go to the infirmary as well,” he said quietly. “You really took a beating out there - and you pushed yourself hard besides.”

“You go,” Levi replied, shaking his head. “I can rest when I’m done.”

He turned and walked away before Mike could respond, knowing that answers or no, the words were a lie. Levi would find little rest tonight.

~~~

The silence of the east tower lay over Levi like a shroud, heavy and smothering. The solitary sound of his footsteps called forth phantoms from the dust, filling his ears with echoes of Auruo’s indignance, Petra’s laughter, Eld’s and Gunter’s unceasing banter - the sounds of past collaboration and camaraderie only he could hear as he climbed the spiralling staircase.

...If they had known what they were facing, would they have lived?

The door to the spy’s keep was unlocked. Levi entered.

Though the hour was late, the spymaster was awake, sitting behind his desk as he read through reports by candlelight. He made no move to acknowledge Levi when he entered, but the air between the two men shivered with thinly-veiled tension.

“I knew you’d make the right decision,” Erwin murmured, not looking up as Levi stalked forward. 

If Levi wondered how Erwin could possibly have known that Levi hadn’t killed any of the assassins - or how close he had come to doing so in the first place - he didn’t ask. There were more pressing matters at hand.

“How long have you known Eren Jaeger was being targeted by assassins?” Levi demanded. 

“I only just found out.” The spymaster studied the report in his hand in disinterest, his ice-cold stare never once leaving the paper. “Right now, in fact. From you.” 

A muscle in Levi’s jaw twitched. 

“I have, however,” Erwin continued, “had my suspicions.” 

_ ‘Suspicions,’ my ass _ . Levi scowled. “You kept it from us deliberately. You  _ knew. _ ” The words were quiet, the razor’s edge beneath them concealed until the very end.

The paper crinkled between Erwin’s fingertips. 

“I wasn’t in a position to speculate.”

“That usually doesn’t stop you.”

Erwin looked up, his expression unreadable. “You’re right. It doesn’t.”

“This isn’t a game, Erwin.”

“I’m very much aware of that. The gravity of the situation isn’t lost on me.” 

“The ‘gravity of the situation?’” Levi hissed. “This isn’t some political tea-party, Erwin – you used me as bait.” 

“No, I used you as a spy–” 

“– and my entire squad–” 

“– is alive,” Erwin finished, setting the report on the desk with a harsh snap. 

The words died on Levi’s lips.

“Dr. Berner has been tending to them all day – with the assistance of Hanji and the medical team, of course.” 

Gunter. Petra. Auruo. Eld. 

_...alive? _

“They’re still in critical condition, but with a little luck, they’ll all pull through. Spoke to Moblit myself, after the surgery.” Erwin sighed. “I… never meant for this to happen, Levi. Your team was the best – and I thought the best would be more than enough to put an end for this.” 

Levi swallowed. His throat felt like sandpaper.

The rest of Erwin’s thoughts sat uneasily on his lips. Levi watched them burn and die there as the silence grew strained. 

“You should go to them. We’ll discuss this later.”  

Levi turned without another word, his shadow stretching longer and longer out in front of him as he walked away from the spymaster, cleaving through the flickering candlelight like a knife.

“Oh, and Levi?” Erwin called after him.

Levi paused, his fingers wrapping tightly around the doorknob as he stared through the open door and into the darkness of the tower.

“Keep an eye on Eren Jaeger.”

The door slammed shut.

~~~ 

The door of infirmary’s intensive care ward felt cool to the touch, smooth but for the whorls and splits in the aging wood beneath Levi’s hand. 

_ Alive. _ His squad was  _ alive _ .

Yet he still couldn’t move, still couldn’t bring himself to try to feel their sparks - he stood there, waiting, unwilling to reach out and prove what Erwin had told him, even if the words had been a lifeline thrown to him as he drowned. The shock of their loss and the numbness that had followed still clung to him, hiding deep within the spaces between his bones. Levi doubted he’d ever be free of the feeling, even if they all managed to live for another fifty years or more.

Somewhere beyond the door, someone laughed.

The door swung open.

“And the direwolf finally shows up,” Auruo chuckled, moving to sit up. Despite the bruises along his jaw and underneath his eyes, his eyes sparkled, and his smile somehow remained intact. “We wondered how long you’d stand out there, Captain.” 

“And in that state, even,” Hanji tutted, grabbing a fistful of his sleeve and tugging him to a chair, anxious to begin redressing his wounds. Levi let them do as they pleased. He wasn’t entirely sure if he could move of his own accord anyways. The ground suddenly felt very far away, and his knees felt weak. 

Despite the hour, the room was warmly lit, with lamps glowing softly on the bedside tables and a fire crackling in the hearth. Three of the five beds were occupied; Petra, Auruo, and Gunter lay side by side, fully awake - though heavily bandaged - and propped up with pillows. A fourth bed stood ready next to Gunter’s, presumably for Eld, and the turned-back blankets and rumpled sheets gave the impression that its owner had just gotten up and wandered off, soon to return. Hanji paced impatiently around the room, relieving Levi of his maneuver gear and discarding his torn and dirtied cloak before preparing to dress his wounds.

Auruo’s gaze softened when Hanji helped Levi out of his gear straps and had him remove his shirt, exposing the bruises that had begun to stain his torso and the dressings Hanji had wrapped him in that morning - an eternity ago, it seemed. “You look a little worse for wear, Captain,” Auruo murmured. “I hope you weren’t trying to join us.” 

“Auruo, don’t tease,” Petra scolded. She had a bandage across the bridge of her nose, and more along her left temple and jaw. The right side of her face had been spared, mostly, but Levi could already see the beginnings of dark bruises ringing her eyes like a mask. His heart clenched at the sight.

“How bout it, Captain?” Gunter asked. “Did you get the bastards that put us up here?”

“...no,” Levi replied. “They’re still out there. I… I’m sorry.”

Gunter snorted softly. “Sorry?” He chuckled, then winced, his hand going for the thick swath of bandages around his chest. “Hear that, Auruo? Our captain is sorry. And for what?” The expression on his face grew gentle as he turned back to Levi. “Captain,” he murmured. “Levi. You did the best you could out there, and so did we. None of us regret our choices out there - do you?” 

Levi was silent, gripped by a phantom of the blood-curdling  _ fear _ that had rooted him in place in the square that morning, and again in Ragako that afternoon.

_“_ _The only thing we’re allowed to believe is that we won’t regret the choice we made.”_ His words, spoken to them when he had selected the four of them for his squad, when he handed them shadows and espionage and they offered their faith in return.

“I watched you  _ die,” _ Levi whispered.

His friends eyed him sadly.

“You were dying. I  _ saw _ it. And I did  _ nothing.” _

“You did exactly as you should have,” Hanji replied firmly. “By letting that operative escape and calling for aid, you helped your squadmates get medical attention in time. Your quick thinking saved their lives. Don’t you dare _ ,” _ Hanji hissed, “don’t you even  _ dare _ try blaming yourself for this. The four of them will walk away from this because of you.”

“...three of them,” Petra whispered.

Levi looked up at her, and then turned to look at the empty fourth bed. 

“Hanji,” Levi asked, his voice suddenly hoarse, “where is Eld?”

No one could bring themselves to look at Levi. Petra and Auruo glanced at each other, sorrow etched into their faces. Gunter let his eyes drift closed. Hanji looked away.

“Hanji?” Levi pressed.

“Agent Jinn is still with Moblit and the medical team in the main infirmary,” Hanji replied mechanically, staring at the empty bed. “His condition is stable now, for the most part, but he suffered a severe  thoracolumbar extension fracture that resulted in a partial detachment of -”

“In English, Hanji,” Levi demanded.

“He’s paralyzed,” Petra whispered. Her voice shook as she spoke; when Auruo offered a hand out to her, she reached out and held it tightly. “From the waist down. Dr. Berner says he’ll probably be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.”

Levi swallowed. “Is there anything that can be done?”

“Not for this,” Hanji replied. “Things like this just… don’t heal.”

“Can I see him?”

“He’s asleep right now,” Gunter answered. “Best thing for the pain, they said, but he still wasn’t happy about it. Said he’d rather be awake, old dog.” He smiled weakly. “Dr. Mo said maybe in a few days. Wanted him to rest first.”

“What about his family?” Levi asked quietly. “Have they been informed?”

“Not yet,” Hanji said. “Erwin was planning on -”

“I’ll do it,” Levi cut in. Hanji fell silent. “I’ll do it myself, and I’ll have the family escorted here and given guest rooms so they can visit him when he wakes.” He felt the stares of his squad on him, but for once, Levi couldn’t find the courage to meet their gazes. “It’s the least I can do,” he finished with a whisper.

“He’d be honored,” Auruo murmured. The other spies nodded.

“And it may even help speed up the recovery process,” Hanji added. “Support is a big part of recovery.”

“He’ll have the best,” Levi said firmly. “The best we can provide. You all will.”

“We’d better,” Auruo grinned, squeezing Petra’s hand reassuringly. “You’ve got your best men and woman cooped up in the infirmary while you’re off gallivanting through the city on your own. Who’s gonna keep you from getting your ass kicked if we’re stuck back here on bedrest?”

Levi cocked an eyebrow. Gunter and Petra smiled.

“Who said anything about me getting my ass kicked?” Levi asked - only for his words to end in a sharp hiss as Hanji pressed a thumb into a nasty-looking bruise.

“I’d say a word or two,” Hanji answered with a grin. Levi glared up at them sourly.

But it was impossible to keep from smiling when his friend’s laughter filled the room.

~~~

Hard as it was to leave the intensive care ward, once Levi’s wounds were cleaned and dressed he bid goodnight to Hanji and his squad. At this hour, the rest of the infirmary was quiet, the patients and their nurses sleeping peacefully, and as Levi paced down the row of beds, no one stirred.

At the back of the room, an unassuming set of stairs led up behind the linen closets to a narrow hall above the atrium of the infirmary. Doors flanked the hall, marked with signs that indicated to rooms beyond them, and Levi passed them silently, reading the signs above the doorways in the thin light that streamed through the window at his back.  _ Storage. Apothecary. Laboratory. Operating Theatre.  _

The door at the end of the hall was unmarked. In the darkness of the hallway, Levi might not have even noticed the door was there at all - but it was impossible to miss Nifa, who stood guard at the threshold. The thin woman, a member of the Squad  _ Corvidae  _ under Hanji’s command, watched Levi silently as he approached, the gleaming metal of her signature twin daggers glinting dangerously as she held them at the ready. 

The back room of the infirmary was only guarded by the best.

“At ease, Magpie,” Levi said calmly.

“Direwolf,” Nifa greeted, lowering her blades.

“How is he?” Levi asked.

Nifa huffed. “Compliant. One of the more polite back-room patients I’ve seen in my time. Didn’t give Rook a lick of trouble, even if the poor doctor did leave confused.”

_ Glad I’m not the only one, _ Levi thought. To Nifa, he said, “I need to speak with him.”

Nifa turned, stepping back to let Levi pass. “You’ll need to leave your weapons with me,” she reminded him. “I can’t let you in with them.”

Without a word, Levi unclipped the sheathed dagger at his waist and drew the knife from his boot and offered both blades to her hilt first. Once she took the weapons from him, he reached into his collar and pulled the mask over the lower half of his face.

“Ready?” Nifa asked.

Levi nodded. 

Nifa undid the deadbolt and lifted the heavy wooden bar from the door. “I’ll have to lock you in,” she said. “You’ll have to state the passphrase when you’d like to be let out.”

“Understood,” Levi murmured. 

She let him pass.

The back room was dark, lit only by the weak light of the moon from beyond the single, thick-glassed window. The light was enough, however, for Levi to clearly make out the figure of the man on the bed, his silhouette almost unnaturally still as Levi entered and the door was barred behind him.

Eren Jaeger was awake.

“It could just be the lighting, agent,” the ambassador began, “but you look like hell.” 

The air of nonchalance was ruined by the sound of the deadbolt sliding back into place.

“How are you feeling?” Levi asked, ignoring Eren’s quip.

Eren scoffed. “Like I’m about to burn through my sheets,” he replied. “Apparently I’m running a fever so high, your doctor was surprised I wasn’t dead yet. But I feel fine.”

“The doctor’s not the only one who wonders how you’re still alive,” Levi muttered, walking to the foot of the bed. A small oil lamp stood on the end table; striking a match, Levi lit the lamp and the two men watched as the tiny flame flickered to life. “Didn’t think you’d still be up after the day you’ve had.” 

Eren gave Levi a strange look. “You’ve never tried sleeping in manacles, clearly,” he replied, lifting his hands to reveal the chain between his wrists. “I didn’t realize this is what they meant when they spoke of Sinan hospitality.”

Levi shrugged. “Our hospitality serves well enough for the guests who don’t arrive at dawn with a pack of assassins on their trails. I’m not sure what you expected.”

“Fair enough,” Eren sighed, letting his hands fall back into his lap. The chain rattled morosely. “I’m not really sure what I expected either. Certainly not this.”

Levi snorted. “If I had known when I woke up that I was going to have a day like yours, I would’ve stayed in bed.”

“If I had stayed in bed,” Eren countered, “I’d be dead right now.”

“Would you really?” Levi asked quietly.

Eren’s eyes flashed. “Does this seem like something I would lie about?”

“I don’t know  _ what _ you’d lie about, Ambassador,” Levi replied. “But from the way things looked today, if those people wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead - yet here you are.”

Eren said nothing.

“So what’s your story this time, Jaeger?” Levi asked. “First you were a diplomat, now you’re a target; this morning you said you were travelling alone, now I have your two friends in infirmary beds.”

“I was trying to keep them safe!” Eren snapped. “I didn’t know what you were going to do to-”

“First they’re trying to  _ kill _ you, now they’re trying to  _ kidnap _ you,” Levi pressed, cutting him off. “And you tell me you don’t know why that is - right after turning into a weaponized lightning bolt just like they do. So what will it be, Ambassador?”

“What do you want me to say,  _ spy?” _ Eren hissed.

Levi’s hands came down on the table with a harsh slap. “How about the truth?”

The fire of Eren’s anger flared for an instant, and then extinguished all at once, leaving him hollow and suddenly, strangely fragile. He slumped back into the pillows, exhaustion clinging heavily to his very bones. 

“The truth...” Eren scoffed quietly. “The truth is the one thing I can’t give you.”

“And why not?”

Eren studied Levi solemnly. “I don’t have it yet,” he replied. “That’s what I came here for. To find answers. To keep my friends safe. To be… free of this.”

Levi was silent.

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” Eren continued. “I didn’t… I didn’t want anyone getting hurt.”

After a pause, Levi sighed. “Who are these assassins, Jaeger? What do they want?”

“I don’t know who they are,” Eren replied. “I still haven’t figured it out - I don’t even know if they’re Marian or Sinan. But I think I know what they’re after, finally.” Eren took a deep breath to steady himself. Levi waited.

“Me,” Eren said slowly. “I think they’re after me.”

“No shit,” Levi bit back. “Why, though? I need to know  _ why. _ ”

The ambassador was staring hard at his hands, his gaze never leaving the manacles as he struggled to arrange his thoughts. Levi noticed his hands were shaking.

“I think…” Eren whispered, swallowing hard before continuing, “I think it’s because I’m like them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 7 is nearly complete (and it is ALL about Eren and Levi trying to figure each other out ;D) but I'm moving next week so the next chapter will be up once I get settled! Once classes start, I'm hoping to keep a pace of about 2-3 chapter releases a month, so if you're enjoying the fic, please subscribe! And, as always, your comments mean the world to me and kind words help keep me motivated, so I'd definitely love to hear from you. <3 Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	7. The Ambassador's Request

“...this memo says that Lady Kuchel has asked for you to review the expenses for the Twin Dove Estate in order to prepare for spring. She says here that you are already aware of the preparations that need to be made?”

Levi nodded, wordlessly extending a hand out to Hitch, who gave him the letter and watched him add it to a stack on his desk before opening the next envelope and reading the contents aloud.

“...the Dalhert family has requested the honor of your presence at their annual winter ball; they have made it known that they intend to introduce their eldest daughter to the court later this-”

The furrow on Levi’s brow grew deeper as he scowled.

“Politely decline?” Hitch asked.

“Please,” Levi sighed. “Next?”

Hitch cleared her throat. “...Commander Dawk sends his sympathies regarding your horseback riding accident, and wishes you a speedy recovery.”

Levi’s eyes narrowed. “Burn that one,” he told her. His assistant allowed the letter to drop to the floor with a bemused smile.

Most of the morning had passed in this manner. In the three days since his alleged riding accident - a story fabricated by Hanji to excuse his rather alarming injuries and allow him time to recover outside of the public eye - Levi had only left his office to visit the infirmary and to sleep. Nearly all of his waking hours had been spent behind his desk with only Hitch for company and an endless pile of memos, invitations, and reports to keep him occupied. The mindlessness of it all felt almost as bad as the recovery - after the first day, he found himself wondering if he’d prefer actually _being_ in a horse riding accident over this.

After the second day of donation letters, expense reports, and meeting minutes, the idea of being trampled by a horse seemed a lot more appealing.

Before Hitch could begin reading another letter, Levi held up his hand. “Enough,” he said wearily. “I’m done for now.”

“Is there anything else you need, Your Highness?” Hitch asked. The hopeful note in her voice had Levi wondering if the girl secretly wished he would say no. He couldn’t blame her.

“No, this is fine,” Levi answered, noting the relief on his attendant’s face with the smallest hint of amusement. “You are dismissed for the day, go enjoy yourself.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Hitch replied. “Thank you, Your Highness.” She dipped into a curtsy and left as quickly as she could.

Levi sighed.

Strange, he thought, how much princehood felt like a prison sentence. No amount of luxury - no hand-carved desks or plush carpets or velvet chair cushions - could keep this office from feeling like a cage, as restricting and inescapable as the responsibilities that gilded the title he’d been forced to accept.

Standing slowly, Levi turned to the window behind his desk.

Snow had fallen in the night, coating the city beyond the tempered-glass in a fine dusting of glittering powder, and the smoke that curled from the chimneys spun and vanished in the winter breeze. In the distance, Levi could see the bell-tower, and beyond it, the colorful pennants of the midwinter market, where craftsmen and tinkers peddled the last of their goods before holing themselves up in their workshops to create next summer’s wares. Small as ants from this distance, the townspeople dashed about in the cold, running letters or making deliveries or visiting family or meeting with friends or a million other mundane things Levi would probably never experience. His was now a world of gold filigree whispers and jewel-encrusted lies, of royal courts and lavish banquets and manacles shaped like a golden crown.

_“You’ve never tried sleeping in manacles, clearly.”_

Levi blinked, and all he could he see in the window was his dead-eyed reflection.

 _“Keep an eye on Eren Jaeger.”_ The spymaster’s words still echoed in Levi’s head.

Intel on the ambassador had proven scarce. After the successful retrieval mission, Erwin had scoured sources from all over the three kingdoms for any hint of who was targeting Jaeger and why.

He’d found nothing.

His report to Levi, disguised a sponsorship request from a team of explorers, had been as unnerving as it had been uninformative. Nanaba and the rest of Mike’s squad had withdrawn from their previous mission to relocate to Maria for reconnaissance, looking for any sign of the assassins and who may have sent them. So far, they had made no progress. Hanji and Dr. Berner had spent every moment away from Levi’s recovering squad with Eren, questioning and running every test he allowed, but all efforts proved fruitless - no sign of the powers he shared with the assassins, no answers as to why he was being pursued. With no further evidence of his abilities and no answers to why he was being pursued, the Survey Corps had been forced to release him - or face a kingdom’s wrath if Marian higher-ups learned that Sinan spies were holding a Marian ambassador hostage.

 _It’s a shitstorm,_ Levi thought to himself, letting his forehead rest against the cold glass. _An absolute shitstorm._ So many questions, no answers in sight.

Lost in thought, Levi didn’t hear the footsteps nearing his study until they were almost to his door.

“You can come in,” Levi called, not bothering to disguise the weariness in his voice. From his window, he watched the pennants of the market district flutter in the wind.

He was answered with a soft, canine whine - and for the first time that day, Levi smiled.

“Scout,” he called, just loud enough for his visitor to hear, “open.”

There was a cheerful bark from outside the study and a moment later, the door opened, allowing a large shepherd dog to nose her way inside. She took a few steps forward before pausing to wait for her next command, looking decidedly self-satisfied as she regarded Levi with intelligent, dark eyes.

“Well hello, Scout,” Levi murmured, reaching for his desk drawer to find his jar of rawhide strips. “What brings you here?”

“Ah, I do, Your Highness,” someone responded, his voice muffled by the heavy wooden doors. “Or she brought me, I suppose… but this is where I needed to be in the first place. May I come in?”

The smile slipped right off Levi’s face. He knew that voice.

“You traitor,” he said quietly, glaring at the dog. Moving quickly, he pulled back his chair and sat at his desk, suddenly wishing that he could put on a mask - that his best disguise wouldn’t have to be a luxurious office and a ‘princely’ attitude.

Whatever that was.

“Fucking _hell_ ,” Levi muttered. Louder, he answered, “If you insist.”

The ambassador insisted.

For someone who had been attacked, kidnapped, and beaten, Eren Jaeger looked well - remarkably so. The bloodied, weary young man Levi had snatched from the hands of assassins and trim, well - if not somewhat plainly - kept ambassador who entered the study and approached Levi now could not look any more different. Any injuries he had received had already healed and the pallor of exhaustion had gone, leaving no sign of the events of three days ago. No sign at all.

Levi frowned, his ears ringing faintly. _“Keep an eye on Eren Jaeger.”_

Whatever suspicions Levi had, however, Scout didn’t seem to share. She wagged her tail happily as she took a seat by the ambassador and leaned heavily against his leg, eager for attention.

“Don’t look so pleased with yourself, dog,” Levi muttered under his breath. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

The dog barked.

Levi sighed.

“She’s very smart,” Eren said after a moment, rubbing his fingers behind Scout’s mismatched floppy ear. “Was she born without her leg?”

Levi looked briefly at Scout, eyeing the smooth curve where her foreleg used to be. Though her coat now hid it well, anyone tried to pet her there would find a knot of ropy scars - a memento from her former life as a battlefield medical dog.

“No,” Levi replied. “War did that. I adopted her after it happened.”

Scout whined quietly. Eren patted the top of her head.

“…anyways,” Levi continued, returning his attentions to the stack of papers he rifled through with a quick and focused efficiency. “Don’t tell her. She doesn’t know.”

Eren looked puzzled. “…she doesn’t know she’s?”

“I just said don’t tell the dog,” Levi said, cutting him off.

Scout barked, her tail thwacking merrily against the back of Eren’s leg. The ambassador winced. He didn’t tell the dog.

“Now, how can I help you Mr. …?” His voice trailed off meaningfully.

“Jaeger,” Eren finished, before startling at Levi’s questioning look and adding, “no relation to His Majesty, of course. I’m an ambassador from Maria but… that’s not what I’m here for.”

“I see,” Levi said slowly. Setting his papers aside, he opened the top drawer to his right, and after picking through it for a moment, fished out a pen and a bottle of ink. He briefly inspected the nib of his pen for dried ink and, finding none, drew a fresh sheet of paper from another drawer, dipped his pen into the inkwell, blotted once, and began to write. The whole time, he gave not even a glance in Eren Jaeger’s direction

The picture of nonchalance.

 _Pity I’m only writing scribbles,_ Levi thought bitterly as he started a second line of meaningless loops. “Alright, Mr. Jaeger,” Levi said, “if you didn’t come for diplomatic work, what brings you here?”

Eren swallowed.

“I…”

The scratch of the pen on paper filled the heavy silence.

“I came to thank you,” Eren said. “I owe my life to a few of the members of your Survey Corps and they’re some of the bravest, strongest people I’ve ever met.”

Levi took a deep breath through his nose, trying keep his pulse steady. He couldn’t agree more - but his uneasiness only grew.

Was the ambassador... toying with him?

“Wouldn’t your thanks be better directed towards the members of the squad involved?” Levi asked.

“I already did… for most of them,” Eren replied. “Scout led me to them earlier and I got the chance to thank them before the doctor escorted me from the infirmary. I hope… I really hope they get better soon.”

Scout yipped softly, as if in agreement.

Levi lowered his pen, but did not look up. “So do I, Mr. Jaeger,” he said quietly. “So do I.”

“That just leaves the captain to thank.”

Silence filled the pause that followed and it quickly grew heavy, a strange, unidentifiable tension slipping through the air like smoke. Only a select few individuals knew of the prince’s involvement with the Survey Corps - an involvement Levi went to great pains to keep hidden. If word got out that the royal heir was running around masquerading as a spy, it could endanger everyone in Sinan intelligence; how many innocent agents would be kidnapped immediately in hopes of capturing the Sinan prince?

_Did Eren Jaeger know?_

Impossible. In all the drama following the ambassador’s arrival, Levi had been on high alert. He’d been masked, cloaked - they’d had _maybe_ three conversations, all of which had occurred in high-pressure situations. The man Eren Jaeger had met on the day of the attack could not be any more different than the prince he stood before now.

_Yet it took Mikasa all of an hour to discover your identity, and Jaeger’s sharp-eyed companion may soon come to the same conclusion…_

Like it or not, Eren Jaeger was more than capable of discovering the true identity of the Survey Corps captain, if he hadn’t already.

And that made him dangerous.

“That may not be possible,” Levi said briskly, setting down his quill and folding the letter he had written, his attention never once leaving the paper as his worked to make each precise crease - the picture of complete disinterest. “From what little I know of the captain, he seems to be a particularly busy man. Perhaps his squad will pass along your gratitude.”

“That won’t work,” Eren replied.

Levi looked up.

“I have a request for him,” Eren said, his voice quieter but no less firm. His hands tightened into tense, knotted fists at his sides; Scout lay at his feet, quiet and seemingly forgotten. All at once, the calm, polished dignitary’s mask vanished, leaving a raw, determined sort of intensity in its place.

Moving slowly, Levi reached for the throwing knife hidden under his desk. “...Go on.”

The ambassador took a long, steadying breath. “I’d like to join the Survey Corps, Your Highness.”

Levi felt his blood run cold.

 _He’s toying with me,_ he thought. _He knows and now he’s toying with me._

Levi scowled. “You must be mad,” he replied.

“You’re not the first to say so,” Eren said calmly, his resolve not the least bit shaken. “But I do mean it - I want to join the Survey Corps.”

“No.”

Sitting up, Scout looked to Levi and let out a whine.

Eren frowned. “Why not?”

Why not. _Why not._ Levi barely contained a snort.

“Is it because of my citizenship?” Eren demanded, “Because spies recruit people from other kingdoms all the time - I could be a huge asset - and I’d have plenty of high-level sources and I can fight and -”

“I said no,” Levi said sharply.

“And if it pleases you, _Your Highness,”_ Eren pressed, “I would like to know why.”

Levi’s palms came down on the desk with a loud slam. Scout startled. Eren jumped, eyes wide with shock. The force of the impact shook the desk, sending pens rolling across the surface and scattering papers from the tops of their stacks.

With a rolling, shuddering sound, the inkwell rattled loudly in place, drawing the attention of the ambassador, the war-dog, and the prince. Three pairs of eyes watched as the rounded glass bottle trembled, then stilled.

Not a drop of ink was spilled.

“You don’t just _ask_ to join the Survey Corps,” Levi began, his voice like ice and his expression colder. “Each candidate is selected, recommended by some of the most capable and discerning instructors in the field. They go through rigorous testing, face daunting obstacles, and are challenged to their absolute limits to see if they’ll crack - and this is all before they’re even chosen.

“Simply fighting isn’t enough. Simply being an _asset_ isn’t enough. These are people who can stand in front of an armed and angry prince without flinching - people who, when faced with the unknown, do not flee to another kingdom at midnight and endanger the lives of strangers in their flight.”

Eren said nothing.

“Ambassador,” Levi murmured, “why did you _really_ come here?”

“Because I need help,” Eren breathed. “And I don’t know who to trust.”

“So you decided to trust _spies?”_

“Your agents have already saved my life twice,” Eren replied solemnly.

“They were doing their job.” Levi replied. “They have no reason to help you this time.”

“But this could be serious!” Eren insisted.

“You have no proof of that.”

Eren scowled. “Of course I don’t. There’s almost nothing to find out there. The assassins might as well be ghosts.”

“Then there’s no reason for my agents to get involved then, is there,” Levi retorted, punctuating his words with a hard, unyielding stare. “And there’s even less of a reason for you to join them.”

Scout whined, looking sorrowful.

Eren was silent.

With a short sigh, Levi turned his attentions back to his now-cluttered desk, rummaging through the stacks of papers before plucking what he needed out of the stack and examining it for a moment.

“According to my reports, Mr. Jaeger,” Levi said, “your unexpected stay here at the palace has lasted for three full days,” - he flicked a sharp glance at Eren - “...three full days too long.” Before Eren could argue the point, he continued. “A carriage will be prepared to take you back to Maria - I will not start a war over a captive ambassador. You leave at sunset.”

It was nothing less than a dismissal, and the ambassador recognized it immediately. Levi watched with mute calculation as a cool mask of indifference quickly settled over the younger man’s features. Only his eyes gave him away; though he managed to school his expression into one of well-practiced deference, his eyes still burned, emerald and obstinate, with a determination that even the harshest of Levi’s words could not shake.

“Very well then,” Eren said quietly, clasping his hands in front of him. Sensing the end of the meeting, Scout hopped to her feet and gave a soft whine, looking from Levi to Eren and back again with a troubled expression and a concerned cock of her head. “Thank you for your audience and hospitality, Your Highness. May we meet again under happier circumstances.”

“One can only hope,” Levi intoned.

And without another word, Eren gave a stiff, formal bow to the Sinan prince and was gone.

Leaving Scout alone with Levi.

“...You’re pleased with yourself, I assume?” Levi muttered, narrowing his eyes at his canine companion. “Did you achieve what you came here to do?”

Scout barked once, her tail uncharacteristically still. Before Levi could call her to his side, she turned tail and ran.

Suddenly alone, Levi sunk lower into his chair and sighed.

_“Keep an eye on Eren Jaeger.”_

For a man who hadn’t even existed in Levi’s world three days ago, Eren Jaeger sure had him on thin ice.

 _And it’s high time I do something about it_.

Rising, he summoned one of the guards stationed outside his office.

“Tell someone to ready my horse,” Levi declared, the beginnings of a plan starting to stir in his mind. “Inform my mother that I will retire to her estate for the remainder of the week. For my health,” he added wryly.

“Of course, Your Highness,” the guard replied.

“And once I finish this, I’ll need someone to deliver this letter to the infirmary,” Levi continued. Once there, his letter would find its way into Hanji’s hands, and eventually, Erwin’s.  

“Right away, Your Highness.”

Reaching into his desk drawer, Levi selected another sheet of parchment and, setting his first ‘letter’ to the side, began to write.

_“I want to join the Survey Corps.”_

Levi could still hear the words, crisp and clear, could still see the determination set along every line of the Marian ambassador’s face.

 _Even if you could be a candidate, Ambassador, I would never choose you,_ Levi thought to himself. _The foundation of the Survey Corps, above strength or cunning or anything else, is trust._

_And I do not trust you in the slightest._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good girl, Scout. You're a good girl. Because of all the very-pertinent-and-important research I do for this fic, I have a tag dedicated exclusively to cute pictures and videos of German Shepherds ~ inspiration for Scout The Dog. You can find it [here](http://inkshaming.tumblr.com/tagged/scout).
> 
> I have a beta-reader, the very lovely [ChristmasRivers](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ChristmasRivers/pseuds/ChristmasRivers), but CR has been working super hard IRL lately so this chapter is, for the most part, unbeta-ed. If you see any glaring typos, feel free to pester me on tumblr! Also, if you want to make someone's day, go give CR a visit and leave some sweet comments on some nice Ereri and Jaytim fluff!


	8. The Dire Discovery

When the door burst open, Armin didn’t even flinch.

“I had a feeling I’d see you this morning,” Armin murmured, not bothering to look up from his book. “How was your trip back?”

“He wouldn’t even consider me!” Eren snapped, pacing around the stacks of books that littered the floor of the study.

“Are you surprised?”

“I’m angry!” Eren bit back.

Armin sighed. “You asked the prince of Sina if you, a foreign dignitary pursued by assassins, could join his elite team of spies,” Armin replied evenly. “He was going to say no.”

“Well what am I going to do now?” Eren grumbled. He circled around the room once more before flopping into a deep-cushioned chair, the only surface in the tiny office that wasn’t totally covered in books or scrolls.

“I guess you’ll just have to look elsewhere,” Armin said with a shrug.

“Where?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Armin replied, rolling his eyes. “It’s not like you have the busiest advisor in all of Sina spending every waking moment trying to figure out how to hunt down some assassins.”

Eren looked up, his scowl breaking out into a wide grin.

“You found something, didn’t you.”

Armin nodded, smiling faintly. “I think so,” he replied. “It’s not much, but it could be a start. We just need to know where to look.”

“I can find it,” Eren replied. “What have you got for me.”

Setting the book in his hand aside, Armin opened a drawer and began rifling through its contents, plucking out the occasional file or scrap of paper with nimble fingers until he had assembled a sizable stack on his desk.

“I thought you said you hadn’t found much?” Eren asked.

“I haven’t,” Armin replied. “This is just how I’ve hidden what little I’ve found.”

Eren looked from Armin to the stack of papers and back again with a puzzled expression on his face. “You did all that for…”

“For some pretty highly sensitive information, Eren,” Armin retorted, sifting carefully through the documents. “These are dangerous people, the last thing you want - and the last thing I need - is for them to find out that we’re sniffing around for information on them.”

“Well, who are they?” Eren pressed.

“Give me a moment!”

Armin worked meticulously, reading over each hand-written document one by one and arranging them in an order known only to him. When he was finished, he pushed his glasses back from the tip of his nose and looked up at Eren.

“I have created a system,” Armin declared.

“A system,” Eren repeated.

“Yes, a system. It allows me to gather and store information in plain sight,” Armin said. “What I’ve done is created a series of documents that contain passages written in a complex code. The fifth word in each sentence will tell you something about where the coded passage is hidden - the the order of the pages, the number of paragraphs down the page it is, what kind of cipher was used to write it… which, of course, will be impossible to determine because only I have the list of ciphers that I used, and without the order that list was written in it’s impossible to figure out which one is present in the document-”

“Armin,” Eren interjected. “The point?”

“Oh. Right.” Armin cleared his throat.

Eren snorted.

“I did some digging,” Armin explained. “Had to look around in the military police records, some of their old cold case files… not fun - I told them it was for a presentation on the history of crime prevention in the capital city and I’m not sure the guard bought it but he let me in…” Armin seemed to notice the pointed expression on his friend’s face all at once. “Ah, anyways… I figured the fastest way to find out who’s after you was to find out who hired the assassins, right?”

It made sense to Eren. He nodded thoughtfully.

“I found a few unsolved murder cases that I felt could potentially be murders-for-hire,” Armin continued, setting one page aside and moving to the next, pausing only to adjust his glasses, keeping them from sliding too far down his nose. “A good chunk of them seemed to center in and around the River District… so that may be your best bet. Head to the river, cast a few lines, see who bites.”

“I can do that,” Eren muttered, getting to his feet. “I can _definitely_ do that.”

“Wait, you’re going now?” Armin spluttered. “ Eren, you’re looking for cold-blooded killers, don’t you think you should do a little more planning? Be a little more careful?”

Reaching the door, Eren looked back over his shoulder and flashed a grin at his friend. “You worry too much, Armin,” Eren said with a laugh. “When am I ever not careful?”

~~~

The Marian capital stood strong and firm on the shores of the River Shiganshina, whose headwaters swept down from the mountains and raced all the way to the sea, and the kingdom had a long, rich history of prosperity along its banks.

Most of the prosperity, however, quickly left the River District for fairer quarters, leaving most of the district a run-down shadow of its former grandeur. The docks - and the storehouses, shipyards, taverns, and inns that served them - had seen better years, and as more of the district fell into disrepair, the stronger the hold of Maria’s shadowy side became.

Eren walked quickly, holding the plain fabric of his cloak tightly around his shoulders as he followed the broken cobblestone pathways deeper into the district. The morning rain had given way to a gloomy afternoon, which cast a somber pallor to everything in sight, from the faded, sun-bleached wooden structures to the flood-worn stone walls whose muted shadows Eren clung to as he walked, seeking to hide in plain sight. The River District was not a place for attracting attention.

 _Finding hidden people is rather difficult when you’re trying to hide yourself,_ Eren mused, pausing briefly at the doors to an old warehouse before deciding to look elsewhere. Back in Armin’s study, everything had seemed relatively straightforward: find some hitmen, see who’s hiring them. But now that Eren was actually here, things had gotten a little more difficult.

For starters, he didn’t actually know how to _find_ hitmen in the first place.

Eventually, it was the weather that brought an end to Eren’s efforts, driving him indoors as the pervading mist turned into a slow, steady rain. Grimacing at the temporary defeat, he ducked into the nearest tavern, a seedy-looking place with a sign over the door that read, “The Black Dog,” and took a seat at the counter.

“What’ll ya have?” the bartender asked, giving his new patron a long once-over as he wiped his hands on the front of the stained apron that hung from his neck. The Black Dog wasn’t the sort of tavern that saw new faces all too frequently; much like the district they called home, the people of the River District all bore the same rundown sort of weathering, and they rarely saw fresh blood - figuratively speaking, anyways. Strangers stuck out.

Eren sighed, brushing his cloak back over his his shoulders but leaving his hood up, unable to shake the odd feeling that someone was watching him. “Just water, please,” he asked quietly, weary from the long day of wandering.

The old bartender eyed him strangely. “You _sure_ you want to be drinkin’ the water ‘round here, boy?”

A barmaid, overhearing, look startled by the mere suggestion. Giving a quick glance in Eren’s direction, she caught his eye and very subtly shook her head.

“Oh, uh,” Eren muttered, chastened. “I’ll have your ale then, please.”

“That’s what I thought ya said,” the bartender replied, looking bemused. “The only way ya get clean water ‘round these parts is if ya stick a mug out a window during a storm like this‘un and hope it fills before the rain stops. Though…” he added thoughtfully, placing a smudged glass of suspiciously pale ale in front of Eren, “you’d probably be lucky if even that was drinkable, ya know?”

“Ah... no,” Eren replied.

The bartender snorted. “You’re not from ‘round here, are ya?”

It suddenly became very clear to Eren how closely the old man was watching him.

“Not from the River District, no,” Eren replied casually. “My family and I live outside the capital city, just up river.”

“I see,” the bartender said, looking thoughtful. “We don’t get many country folk ‘round here too often. You like it up there?”

“Well enough,” Eren answered. Thinking quickly, he recalled his memories of some of the time he had spent there while accompanying Mikasa on her travels. “The winters aren’t quite as mild as they are here, and the spring flooding can be horrid, but it’s tolerable.”

“Tolerable,” the bartender scoffed. “Tolerable don’t bring you to a place like this.”

“No, but shipping does,” Eren retorted, “and my cousin is looking to start her own fleet.”

“Oh really now?” the bartender asked. “Girlies captaining ships - now that’s somethin’ ya don’t hear about every day.”

“And for good reason,” Eren scowled, taking a swig of his ale - and successfully keeping the look of distaste from his face as the watered-down beverage hit his tongue. “You won’t believe the trouble she’s had; she’s heckled and harassed by every sailor who thinks she’s not ship-worthy… why, some of these pigs make me wish I could just hire someone who could…” Eren’s voice drifted lower, “take care of them for her.”

The bartender gave Eren a sharp look. “Them words be dangerous, boy, very dangerous indeed.” He snatched the glass from Eren’s hands, startling Eren. “I won’t be havin’ that kinda talk in my tavern, ya hear me?” the bartender hissed, looking around cautiously to make sure only Eren could hear his words. “Get. Your kind of trouble s’not welcome here.”

Eren went.

~~~

As the afternoon wore on, the rain continued, casting an inescapable melancholy over the River District and a brooding sort of frustration over Eren’s mood. He’d found nothing, and long hours of slopping away through the rain and the cold only served to make him more desperate to find something significant in this great waste of a day.

But the denizens of the River District were a reticent bunch; quick to guard whatever secrets they carried - and their secrets were many, of that, Eren was sure. Secrets echoed in their hurried footsteps, flashed briefly behind their eyes, rose and died on their lips. Eren watched the secrets slip out of his reach like captured minnows slipping out from between his fingers.

 _I might as well call it a night,_ Eren thought glumly as he wandered one of the busier streets he’d seen that day. It seemed to be some sort of back-alley market; a collection of traders and tinkers and waremongers had gathered on either side of the street to sell their wares and services, and now that the day was coming to a close, they hurried around their stalls, packing their belongings to return to wherever they’d come from. Eren watched them quietly, wondering what their lives might be like, torn between asking someone about what he sought or leaving them in peace.

He didn’t notice the cloaked figure heading towards him until the stranger smashed into him, catching him by surprise and nearly knocking him to the ground. Eren let out a grunt of pain and pinwheeled wildly to keep his balance, but by the time he collected himself enough to look around, the cloaked stranger had vanished.

All Eren had left of the encounter was an aching shoulder and a folded slip of paper that had been pressed into his hand.

“What the…” Eren muttered, thumbing the paper for a moment before casting another glance around him. No one in the market seemed to have seen what had happened - or if they did, they paid no attention to it. Still, he waited until he had gotten to a quieter part of the district before stepping into a shadowy corner and inspecting the note.

_If you’re looking for hitmen, find who use them_

_Look for Dimo Reeves_

Dimo Reeves - a name Eren knew. His work as an ambassador and his friendship with Mikasa had gotten him invited to a number of galas and fancy banquets held by the Marian elite; he’d seen Dimo Reeves, the head of the family, on more than one occasion, and he’d even met Fleegle, the heir, more times than he’d have liked. The family ran a highly-acclaimed - yet highly controversial - newspaper and they were famed for their ruthlessness; Eren found he wasn’t surprised in the slightest to learn that they’d go as far as murder to get obstacles out of their way.

Looking around one last time - and again, finding no one in sight - Eren rolled the note tightly between his fingers and then stuffed it through a hole in the seam of his cloak, making a mental note to destroy it as soon as he got home. The chill whispering across his skin told him this was something to keep hidden, that he was prying into dangerous affairs...

Or maybe that was just the wind.

Reinvigorated, Eren set off, this time heading for the banks of the Shiganshina. While the family had settled with their riches in the heart of the Marian capital, Eren was pleased to recall that the Reeves family owned a paper mill and a series of printing presses by the river. It was still early enough in the evening for someone to still be there, Eren mused. Getting Reeves to talk would probably take most of Eren’s diplomatic skills, but maybe he could use his connection to Mikasa or his - rather unfortunate - acquaintanceship with Fleegle as a way to get his foot in the door...

Eren stopped mid-thought, mid-step, when he heard someone speaking.

“Whaddya mean, ‘they’re back’?”

“It’s true! I saw one with m’own eyes!”

The voices echoed from the mouth of a nearby alley, the sharp hiss of their whispers slicing through the evening’s melancholy hush. Though the words themselves struck Eren as mundane, it was the speaker’s urgency that caught his attention. Quietly as he could, he drew closer to the alley entrance, careful to remain out of sight. Once positioned, he busied himself with his clothes, searching carefully through his pockets and his drawstring pouch, giving himself - he hoped - some semblance of an excuse for stopping where he did that wasn’t the truth.

He listened harder.

“I wouldn’t trust your eyes if I was blind and you were leading me!”

“I swear it’s them,” the second voice whispered earnestly. “The Titans are back.”

Someone scoffed. “No one’s seen those damn Titans for almost twenty years. They’re probably dead by now - dead or retired. I know I’d be, after doin’ that sort of work...”

“Ask the Recordkeeper,” the second speaker insisted. “They’re one and the same.”

“You asked _her?_ ” the first voice gasped. “Like hell I’m gonna ask that old hag anything - I’ll probably end up dead before the night is through. Get out of here ya devil, I won’t end up dead for yer stupidity.”

With a quiet cry of dismay and the scuffle of feet, the conversation ended. Deeply curious and more than a little intrigued, Eren quickly straightened his clothing and turned back down the path he’d come, now anxious to be on his way. He wasn’t yet sure about what he wanted to do with the information he’d gleaned, but he _did_ know he didn’t want to get caught with-

A firm hand clamped down on his shoulder.

“Fine night for eavesdroppin’, ay boyo?” an old man asked, glowering darkly as Eren startled and turned, immediately recognizing the dry rasp of the first speaker.

“Actually, sir,” Eren cut back, quickly fixing a scowl on his face, “I was simply pausing to look for my oil pouch; my cloak had a dry spot that was letting in the damp.”

Admirable as the excuse was, the old man caught the lie immediately - but instead of becoming angry, a wry grin broke across his face. “You should see the look of ya,” he chuckled. “Paler than an infant’s ass. Everyone snoops in the River District, boy. It’s how we learn anything down here.”

Eren nodded, the speed of his heartbeat making him feel somewhat faint. “How did you know?”

“What, that you were snoopin’?” The man gave Eren a wink and then nodded up at the streetlamp hanging a few feet behind where Eren stood. “Yer shadow, of course. Ever’body knows that. Now,” he smacked Eren’s shoulder, too soft to be an assault, hard enough to hurt, “get yerself home, boyo. There are devils about - and worse, fools. Best not to get caught up with ‘em.”

And with that, the old man turned and sauntered off, slipping away into the darkening street.

“Wait!” Eren called after him. “Who is the Recordkeeper?”

The man froze.

“I need to know,” Eren said. “It’s important.”

Slowly, warily, the old man turned. “Ahh, boyo…” he murmured, sounding stricken. “Are you sure it’s important enough to be asking _her?_ ”

Eren swallowed, then nodded.

Glancing around him quickly, the old man looked for anyone who might overhear, and finding no one, he walked back to Eren. As he approached, Eren was surprised to notice just how thin and small the old man appeared - he hadn’t seemed so when he’d first startled Eren.

“The Recordkeeper,” he began, keeping his voice low and hushed, “trades in secrets. Rumor has it the old hag has blackmail on almost every blueblood in the kingdom, and she’ll share what she knows with anyone who asks… for a price.”

A shiver slipped down Eren’s spine.

“For each secret she tells ya, you must give her one in return - and you better make certain that yer payin’ her fair and full. The Recordkeeper does not like to be cheated.”

“Where can I find her?” Eren asked.

The old man studied Eren solemnly, searching in his eyes for something Eren couldn’t name. Then he sighed. “Go to the old library, right behind the church. You’ll find her there. But boyo…” he whispered, his voice wavering, “you’d be better off if you forgot I told ya.”

~~~

Night had fallen by the time Eren reached the library, a tall, decrepit stone building that hid behind the leaning steeple of the old church. To an outsider like Eren, it seemed as though the library had long fallen into disuse; there were no signs to mark the place, and moss and climbing vines clung to the walls like tiny, greedy hands, desperate to pull the library apart stone by crumbling stone.

The only sign of life was the thin, wavering light that shone from the second-story window.

The large, weathered double doors opened with a solemn groan, their hinges squealing as Eren pushed his way through and slipped inside. The room he entered, he discovered, was larger than it had seemed from the outside. Towering shelves stood on either side of him in seemingly unending rows; rows upon rows lined up like tombstones in a graveyard until they disappeared into the shadowed corners of the room. The darkness of the library was nearly complete; the only light in the room came from the faint pinpricks of candlelight from holes in the ceiling.

Somewhere overhead, Eren could hear footsteps.

He drew his knife.

Step by step, Eren made his way to the back of the library, where light from the room above flickered weakly in the gloom and illuminated a narrow set of stairs - a rickety, cobweb-laced structure that protested all but the lightest of pressures. Whenever the old wood groaned under his weight, Eren flinched, his breath catching at the thought of someone hearing him and bursting through the door up ahead to accuse him of some crime he hadn’t known he had committed. The old man’s warning echoed in his mind like a tolling bell, haunting and morose...

But no one came. Even the footsteps had ceased, though the candlelight still flickered. All that wrecked the perfect silence was the sound of Eren’s pulse riding high in his ears.

And then, a voice.

“State yer name.”

Eren jumped, startled by the sound of the Recordkeeper’s voice - a harsh rasp that scraped across his skin before racing down his spine with a shiver.

“Annie Leonhart, madam,” a woman replied, making Eren pause as he drew closer to the final step. He hadn’t realized someone else was seeking the Recordkeeper. Wary and unsure, he climbed the last step and leaned in to listen.

The Recordkeeper scoffed. “Don’t bother me with those fancy titles,” she snapped. “I work for a living.”

“Of course,” Annie said quietly.

“Now then,” the Recordkeeper prompted. “What have you brought me? What is your secret?”

“I am a member of the Titans.”

“Oho!” the Recordkeeper exclaimed. Something gave a deep groan; an old chair, perhaps, protesting as its occupant leaned forward. “Now there’s a secret I don’t hear every day.” She snorted. “It’s been years since I last met one of you; I thought you Titans were dead and gone.”

“Not dead,” Annie replied. “Just hiding.”

“From whom?”

Annie was silent.

“Smart lass,” the Recordkeeper said after a moment. “Best to keep your hand close until you know what you’ll earn from it… very well, I will accept your secret, Annie Leonhart. Now what would you like in return?”

“I was told to ask you about the deaths of the queen and her son.”

A shiver crawled down Eren’s spine. The deaths had been a tragedy, a dark stain on the kingdom’s history. The queen had been beloved by many; she fed the needy, had shelters built, and schools… Eren had been too young to remember her death, but the mere mention of it still sent a chill through his Marian blood.

The old woman cackled. “Ohoho… the things I could tell you about that night… dark things, child. Dark things.”

“We’re looking for the boy,” Annie replied.

“The prince?” the Recordkeeper asked, surprised. “The prince is dead, just like his mamma… although…”

The Recordkeeper lowered her voice - but it wasn’t enough. The words crashed like a tidal wave around Eren’s ears and he was dead weight drowning in the tumult of what he had overheard and all that it implied. _It isn’t true,_ his reeling mind supplied. _It can’t be true it can’t be true it can’t be-_

The knife slipped through Eren’s numbed fingers and clattered down the steps.

“What was that?” someone asked. “Who’s there?”

Eren ran.

Down the stairs he raced, taking the rickety steps two at a time until he reached the bottom. The door above him opened with crash not a split-second later, the drum of furious footsteps matching the pounding of Eren’s heartbeat - but Eren had already reached the unending rows of the silent tombstone shelves and he dove into the shadows for cover. If he could get out of here, he might be safe; it’d be all too easy to escape his pursuer in the maze-like alleys of the River District…

The library door slammed shut.

“I know you’re in here…” Annie murmured.

_Shit._

“You can’t hide forever.”

Her voice grew closer as she stalked between the shelves, waiting for Eren to make a sound and seal his fate. He could hide, but she would find him. He could run, but she would catch him. There was nothing he could do.

_“Gotcha.”_

Eren whirled, terror like a lightning strike crackling through his body as he discovered Annie standing right behind him, her face expressionless as she reached out for him, intent and deadly...

The strike from behind, however, came without warning.

Everything went black.

~~~

When Eren came to, the world was dark.

_Am I… blindfolded?_

The touch of fabric over his eyes was unmistakable, as was the feeling of coarse rope coiled tightly around his wrists and ankles, binding him to a hard wooden chair.

There was no way of knowing how long he’d been out, no way of knowing where he’d been taken or what would be done to him now that he was here. He shivered - the air was cold and stale.

Lifeless.

_Hss!_

The strike of a match, and a torch flared to life. Eren flinched, enough light seeping through his blindfold to anger the headache he just realized he had. Instinctively, he shut his eyes and turned away, wanting to use an arm to shield his face - only remembering when he yanked his hand against the rope that he could not.

He was trapped.

“Who’s there?” Eren called. His voice echoed around the room; he hated how frightened he sounded. How pathetic.

“Who are you?” a woman demanded. Eren didn’t recognize the voice. He pulled viciously against his restraints.

“Let me go!”

“I can’t do that until you answer my questions,” the woman replied.

“I won’t,” Eren snarled.

“Then you’ll stay here.”

Eren scowled, but said nothing.

“Why were you in the River District?” the woman asked, her voice cool and mechanical. She could’ve been reciting historical text.

 _Instead, she’s interrogating a prisoner,_ Eren thought bitterly. “Who wants to know?” Eren demanded. “Can’t a man wander his own city without being kidnapped and held against his will?”

 _If you think you’re gonna get anything out of me,_ Eren thought, glowering darkly, _you have another thing coming._

“Why are you looking for assassins?”

“Who says I am?”

The woman refused to answer, only firing off another question. “Are you with the military police?”

“I’d rather eat my own socks,” Eren replied.

“Are you a spy?”

Eren laughed - a harsh, cold sound. “For whom? The Academy headmaster? The orphanage where I was raised?”

Someone scoffed. It wasn’t the woman.

“What were you doing in the old library?”

“I needed something new to read.”

“What did you find?”

Eren was silent.

“What did you find?” the woman repeated.

_It can’t be true it can’t be true it can’t be-_

“What did you find, Eren?”

Eren startled at the sound of his own name, coming from the lips of a different speaker. “Who wants to know?” he demanded.

“Well, as the person who dragged your unconscious ass out of that godforsaken library,” a third person spoke up, “I’m rather curious about what had you running out of there like you had hell on your heels.”

Eren gasped. He _knew_ that voice. “Take the blindfold off,” he retorted, “and then I’ll tell you.”

“Tell us,” the familiar voice replied, “and we’ll remove the blindfold.”

It couldn’t be anyone else, Eren was sure of it.

“It’s the queen of Maria,” Eren said. “She was murdered.”

The blindfold came off, revealing a dark, windowless room.

Before him, illuminated only by the torchlight, stood a spy he’d never seen before, the Sinan doctor who saw him back to health three days before, and the captain of the Survey Corps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~dun dun~

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to continue this, but I'll need your support! Having an audience is an integral part of my writing process; I can't drum up the enthusiasm and inspiration I need to write the next chapter by myself. It would mean the world to me if this chapter got at least 10 left nice comments. This fic so much to me, but I can't write it for myself - I need to know you're out there, and that you're enjoying it, so please let me know! I respond to every one I get. :)
> 
> You can find my writing blog [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/inkshaming) to see what I'm up to ~ I have a lot planned for the next few months.


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